The Team

Rob Chisholm

Managing Director

Rob started life in the Fleet Industry in the Fleet Sales Dept. of a VW/Audi motor dealership in the mid-1980's moving on to become Fleet Sales Manager with a large Midlands based Motor Dealer Group. In 1993 Rob joined Network Vehicles Ltd (at the time a member of the Barclays Bank group) as an Area Development Manager for the East Midlands & East Anglia - an area that included Applewood Vehicle Finance. Promotion to Regional Manager followed in 1998 after the area performed consistently well over a number of years since his appointment. In his time at Network the fleet grew from just over 5,000 to 26,000 vehicles - he regularly claims that this was entirely down to himself. Another one of his little jokes!

In September 2001 he joined one of Networks well established dealers as their New Business Sales & Marketing Manager, following which the opportunity arose for Rob and Clare to take over Applewood Vehicle Finance Ltd in early 2003, the move taking place in April of that year. Since then they have set about adding a range of new facilities to increase the Customer Service Levels to both new and existing customers alike.

Rob's interests are his motorcycle (drivers like their cars, but riders love their bikes!) and Amateur Dramatics, appearing on stage with the Cottesmore Village Players and Rutland Musical Theatre. He considers his main holiday to be skiing, because as Rob says "You lie by a pool and your mind wanders - inevitably it ends up back at the office. I dare you to try that trick on a fast Red run!"

Rob has a passion about the standing of Leasing Brokers in the UK fleet market, and he is Applewoods' representative on the BVRLA Leasing Broker Committee as a founder member. This has been created with the aim of enhancing the standing of Leasing Brokers throughout the UK, which must go hand in hand with raising the standards so that both suppliers and customers alike can have total trust in their dealings with this increasingly important and significant sector of the Vehicle Leasing market. The opportunity to have a role in shaping this process was too good to miss.

Clare Chisholm

Director

Clare's career hadn't touched on either cars or leasing before meeting Rob. Her first job, when fresh out of university and with a mathematical ‘bent', was with BHS in their food department, collating all of the necessary statistics for the company. Following the closure of the department and inevitable redundancy, she travelled to New Zealand for a 6 month holiday which turned into a 13 year stay. During that period she wrote training manuals for a concrete block manufacturer and then wrote software, manuals and developed and managed the training courses for an accounting software provider. One of the many highlights of her time in New Zealand was training with the All Blacks Rugby team!

She returned to the UK in 1999 and was contracted to Railtrack to work on their safety procedure systems.

Clare and Rob took over the Applewood in 2003. Clare is responsible for the administration within the company and is always ready to try and help resolve any problems or issues arising between the clients and service providers.

Away from the office Clare enjoys renovating her house, keeping the garden in check and dancing. She is actively involved in two drama groups but stays firmly behind the scenes. Although Clare enjoys skiing she prefers to undertake it at a more ‘leisurely' pace enjoying the surrounding views (and the Hot Chocolate) as many times as she can whilst on the piste. Secretly, we think she'd prefer it somewhere warmer more often …

Early in 2007 Clare was appointed Deputy Clerk for the ‘Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights', one of the oldest London City Livery Clubs, but sadly lacks the talent and ability to actually make a wheel! Please visit the Wheelwrights website to see what they do in the 21st Century at www.wheelwrights.org

Ben Nower

Sales Consultant

Ben began his working life in the motor trade in 1999 working for a Vauxhall dealership in Peterborough. You could say that he gained a wide range of experience as everything from New & Used Car Sales, Van sales, Daily Rental & the even occasional car valet were counted amongst his duties!

He joined Applewood in June 2004 with some knowledge of the Leasing industry but has since showed an enthusiasm and ability to become proficient in all of its nuances. Ben runs the Cambridge office, based a couple of miles from the City Centre in Babraham.

Ben lives in Soham with his wife Kelly and son Charlie (new to this world in 2007). In between changing nappies and housework he enjoys playing most sports, but in particular football which he plays on a semi-professional basis for Mildenhall Town FC. You can follow his and the teams progress via www.mildenhalltownfc.co.uk.

Unlike Rob, Ben enjoys nothing better than spending his holidays in the sun topping up the tan. “I have no problem with forgetting about the office - with a little help from the cocktails of course!” he declares.