We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Car website. However, if you would like to, you can change your cookies at any time
The start point for the best source of fleet information |
Jenner, whose full-time role is key solutions manager for leasing firm GE Capital, has been a member of ACFO for more than 20 years, became a director in 2003, and replaced Tony Leigh as ACFO?chairman in 2006.
"I don't know that I had any expectations. I just felt passionate about an organisation that has helped me since the early 1990s and I wanted to be a bigger part of it," she says. "You grow into the role. From director into chairman the role is different."
Jenner's reflections on the past seven years are dominated by the amount she wanted to achieve, but was constrained by time pressures.
"The biggest challenge is that it is a full-time job without being a full-time job. It's important that people understand and don't dismiss exactly how much is involved in running an organisation as a part-time role," she says. "I'm frustrated by what you want to do and what you are able to do. It's partly by budget because we have such cheap membership fees, but partly by time."
Jenner's point is made by drawing comparisons with associations such as the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association or the Freight Transport Association, which are able to run staffed offices.
"The chairman and board have to do everything. That's not to say you don't get the support of the other directors, but people forget we've not got a second tier of senior management and juniors. There is no one to cascade work down to apart from national council, and they all have day jobs too," she declares. "Anything the board comes up with the board has to do.
"In an ideal world ACFO would have its own staff and we would cascade things down to them, but that's why we have JJ Marketing," she continues, referring to the new MSO appointed last year that also helped develop the new website, something Jenner sees as a key achievement for the organisation.
"The website is not perfect, but something like this is always going to be an ongoing task to continually develop and improve," she explains.
"It does look different, fresh and more modern and we've been able to put in the news feed, and the functionality to put more things in going forward is greater than before." These new developments could potentially include webinars and specific areas for presentations.
"It's no secret the number of attendees at regional meetings is declining. It's not the case that they are any less valuable but fleet managers are typically doing another job so they find it hard to take time out of the office," says Jenner. "So we have to find ways to deliver some benefit by different means, and they should be able to get some of what's going on at regional meeting and at the moment they're not. They'll never get the full benefit as they are not there to hear it, but they are not getting any at the moment - you can see the minutes, of course, but we need to provide more detail."
BusinessCar magazine ©2019
Business Car Magazine © 2020 | Business Car is part of NS Media Group.
