Bill has been the Managing Director at The Motor Ombudsman since 2015, having worked in the motor industry for almost three decades, and has held senior roles at JLR and BMW, amongst other vehicle manufacturers.

Bill has a first class reputation for enhancing consumer satisfaction and is responsible for ensuring that TMO has a clear strategy and direction and provides the necessary oversight to ensure TMO's Independence and impartiality is maintained.

He equally plays a key role in role-modelling the organisation’s culture and values, as well as serving as an ambassador for the body.

Chris Oakham graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering via the student apprenticeship scheme at Leyland Truck and Bus subsequently moving on to car retailing and then a car importer.
For the past three decades he has been a consultant and analyst working for Sewells International, Alison Associates and Trend Tracker. He is the author of numerous research reports and articles on the automotive retail sector.
Now semi-retired, Chris continues to work on projects of interest including Motor Trader’s Top 200 and Top 50.

A twenty five-year career in motor finance has seen Debbie work hand-in-hand with many of the UK’s most recognisable motor retail groups and major brokers. Her in-depth market understanding and tenacious approach have seen her play a prominent role in developing MotoNovo’s capabilities. Debbie embraces both technology and business change, she was able to work closely with clients to bring innovation and services to help them transform their businesses.

Debbie has a track-record in helping the motor retail community to adapt to regulatory change. Her understanding of both the spirit and letter of the FCA and consumer & retailer insight has seen her play a prominent role in MotoNovo’s development of a succession of bold and successful initiatives. Debbie likes to encourage team work whilst having fun along the way. She has an extreme curiosity for the future and thinks in terms of possibilities. Caring Deeply & Authentically is important to Debbie, and supports her purpose to help people & businesses grow, she is passionate about the personal development of others and equality, supporting various Diversity & Inclusion initiatives and creating the MotoNovo Sales Women’s Sales Network in 2020.

Marc Thornborough has been a part of Auto Trader for over 30 years and was part of the team that launched its very first website back in 1997.

Marc has a passion for digital excellence, understanding retailers goals and objectives and aligning them with the needs and demands of today’s car buyers in order to improve a retailers performance and the car buying experience.

As well as sharing best practice behaviours with customers, Marc speaks regularly at conferences, seminars and on webinars about the future of the UK vehicle retailing market and the digitalisation of the car buying process.

Karen has been working in automotive and technology for the past 15 years. She has experience across the landscape from dealer operations, OEM strategy development, and digital innovation. In recent years she’s been responsible for the growth of heycar in the UK market scaling their presence from launch to 200million visits per year.

Having served as marketing director at a number of leading dealer groups including Perrys, CD Bramall and Reg Vardy, Neil helped establish motors.co.uk and later Trusted Dealers.

His passion for used cars led him to establish JudgeService in 2011.

Neil believes “buying a car should be fun, it’s the second biggest spend most of us will make and should be something we enjoy!”

JudgeService conducts customer service surveys and provides detailed, actionable reports to its clients to manage customer experience and allows dealers to share their reviews and star rankings. Your route to raving fans.

Jill is a marketing professional with over 22 years’ financial services experience. Operating at ExCo level, Jill has a proven track record in delivering top and bottom line growth via insight-led, strategic marketing activities in B2C, B2B and B2B2C markets. Used to operating within strict regulatory environments, Jill champions good customer experiences across the customer journey. Jill is a passionate leader who believes in a colleague first culture.

Lee has been with Assurant and the RAC Dealer Network for 2 years but has an extensive track record within the automotive industry in supporting the delivery of successful partnership programmes. Over a career spanning 18 years, Lee has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to key disciplines like account management, marketing and compliance helping partners to achieve their business goals and reach their full potential.