Sommerville ray

Aston Barclay has strengthened its senior management team with appointments including Ray Sommerville, who joins as non-executive director and strategy advisor.

Sommerville was managing director and group chief executive of Perrys Group for 16 years and currently holds non-executive positions at GardX and Now Motor Retailing, trading as Now Vauxhall. He was also a non-executive director at Cox Automotive.

In addition, Rob Wittridge has become the head of dealer new business and Gary Johnson has joined from Manheim as dealer national sales manager.

Nick Thompson joins from Copart as head of corporate and manufacturer new business, while John Crichton has also been brought on board as commercial director and chief financial officer.

Crichton joins from Marston Holdings where he was chief financial officer of the UK’s largest judicial services group. Previously he was finance director of APCOA Parking UK.

In further changes, Alex Owen has been promoted to group financial director. Having spent nine years with Cox Automotive, including two years as financial controller, she has been with Aston Barclay for six months.

Neil Hodson, Aston Barclay’s CEO, said: “Our new team is now in place to support our 2018 growth plans following the very positive reaction we have had from customers on our plans to revolutionise the remarketing industry.”