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LeasePlan Corporation has appointed two new managing board members, following approval by the Dutch Central Bank.

Daniëlle Pos (pictured above) is the company’s new chief legal and compliance officer and Yolanda Paulissen is the new chief strategic finance and investor relations officer.

Both functions are new to the company. Chief commercial officer Nick Salkeld has decided to step down from his position.

LeasePlan CEO Tex Gunning said: “Daniëlle and Yolanda are highly experienced experts in their fields and I’m delighted to welcome them to LeasePlan’s managing board. These new managing board members strengthen LeasePlan's diverse leadership team, which will shape the next stage of development for our company. With this team I am convinced we can step up and create innovative responses to our future challenges. We will remain focused on delivering more value for our customers and investors."

LeasePlan is currently undertaking a strategic review, shifting from a multi-local organisation to one fully integrated organisation. This is part of ‘The Power of One LeasePlan’ journey underway at the company. The new leadership team, including LeasePlan’s two new managing board members, is implementing an integrated organisational structure to further capitalise on the company’s strengths and value creation.

The company anticipates providing a more concrete and detailed view on its strategic roadmap after the first quarter of 2017.

Chief legal and compliance officer – Daniëlle Pos

Daniëlle Pos served as senior counsel in the Financial Markets Regulation Group at law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, where she worked in several departments focusing on financial markets regulation since 2003.

At De Brauw Pos assisted financial institutions of all types in navigating the Dutch and European financial regulatory landscape to ensure compliance with regulatory law. She worked as a supervisor in the Offering and Listing of Securities & Public Offers department of the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets as part of a secondment by De Brauw and, at the request of the Ministry of Finance, was part of the sounding board for the implementation of the European Solvency II Directive in the Netherlands.

She studied Dutch law and notarial law at the University of Amsterdam and also holds a graduate degree from Columbia University, New York.

paulisson Yolanda

Chief strategic finance and investor relations officer – Yolanda Paulissen (pictured immediately above)

Yolanda Paulissen has been promoted from her former position as senior corporate vice-president strategic finance, which she has held since 2010.

She has over 20 years’ experience in finance, beginning her career as international funding manager at ABN AMRO Lease Holding N. V, a position she held from 1993 to 1997. She then served as senior consultant corporate finance at Van den Boom Groep, which later became NIBC Bank N.V., from 1997 to 2003.

She joined LeasePlan Corporation in 2003 as senior manager corporate strategy and development and was subsequently appointed director mergers and acquisitions in 2006 and SCVP strategic finance in 2010. She holds a Master’s degree in Business Economics from Maastricht University.

Amongst other responsibilities, she will lead the implementation of an Investor Relations function, which will further professionalise LeasePlan’s interaction and communication with the investor community, and she will oversee LeasePlan’s M&A activities.

Departure of chief commercial officer Nick Salkeld

LeasePlan's Chief Commercial Officer Nick Salkeld has decided to step down from his position in order to focus on his other business interests.

Salkeld has been with LeasePlan for over 30 years, becoming LeasePlan's first CCO in 2014.

Gunning said: " Nick has been instrumental in helping to build LeasePlan to the company it is today, playing a key role in developing LeasePlan's reputation for product innovation and customer service excellence. As CCO Nick has brought great momentum to LeasePlan's efforts to grow the fleet and to introduce new service concepts. On behalf of the managing board I would like to express our gratitude for Nick's contribution to LeasePlan during his many years with the company."

Nick Salkeld will continue to provide advice and support to LeasePlan's managing board until the end of 2017.

Operational highlights 2016

Meanwhile LeasePlan had revealed a successful year’s trading in 2016.

Underlying net result for 2016 grew by 7% year-on-year to €455.3 million, fuelled by continuing strong margins on lease services.

LeasePlan’s fleet grew by 8% from 1,553,000 to 1,674,000 in 2016. The SME and private lease segments were the main contributors to this growth.

The majority of the fleet growth was realised in Europe, and more specifically in the Central and Eastern Europe geographies.

Total assets increased by 11% to €23.8 billion, as a consequence of the strong fleet growth.

Gunning stressed: “Our strong underlying performance over 2016 and our solid financial position at year-end demonstrate the key strengths of our business.

“We have a strong track record of over 50 years of market leadership and we are well positioned to further capitalise on the opportunities the mobility landscape offers.

“We are shifting from a multi-local organisation to become a fully integrated organisation: One LeasePlan. We are focused on leveraging our scale, creating global centres of excellence to improve efficiencies and developing a consistent and aligned approach across our entire organisation.  We aim to target the most attractive and profitable regions and customer/product segments.”

“Acting as One LeasePlan,” he added, “we want to unlock the full potential of the Group and deliver more value for customers and our investors."

Gunning continued: “In the latter part of 2016, we established a new leadership team and a new European organisational structure. We are moving from a multi-local organisation to a fully integrated organisation leveraging the scale and best practices of LeasePlan across its countries to enhance operational efficiency.

“This has been achieved through a restructuring of LeasePlan leading to greater centralisation and the creation of centres of operational excellence in areas such as procurement, IT and car-remarketing across our 32 countries. Related restructuring charges amounting to €73 million have been included in the 2016 reported results.”