Features
7 Dec 17

The winners of the Fleet Europe Awards 2017 with the first Global Fleet Manager of the Year Award

  • Juergen Freitag (Siemens AG) wins first ever Global Fleet Manager of the Year Award. 
  • Peter Szelenyi (Novartis) is European Fleet Manager of the Year 2017
  • Celebrating 20th birthday of Fleet Europe, Awards ceremony is both festive and innovative. 

The annual Fleet Europe Awards, on Wednesday 6 December at the Casino in Estoril (Portugal), had a festive quality this year, as 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of Fleet Europe Magazine; and because the ceremony included a few well-received innovations. 

The most notable of these was the inclusion, for the first time, of a Global Fleet Manager of the Year Award. Winner of this accolade was Juergen Freitag, Head of Global Fleet Management at Siemens AG.

Other major awards went to Peter Szelenyi, Global Fleet Category Manager and Regional Travel Category Manager Region Europe at Novartis, who won the 2017 European Fleet Manager of the Year Award; and Tim Albertsen, Deputy CEO at ALD S.A., who was selected as this year's inductee into the International Fleet Hall of Fame by the online votes of the European fleet community. 

The Fleet Europe Awards recognise outstanding achievements in various categories of fleet management. This was the 11th edition of the event, organised by Fleet Europe, the media platform specialised in B2B information on international car fleet and mobility management. The Awards were attended by over 800 international car fleet and mobility professionals from around the globe. 

CATEGORIES 2017

Global Fleet Manager of the Year Award

European Fleet Manager of the Year Award

International Fleet Safety Award

International Fleet Mobility Award

International Fleet Innovation Award

Smart Mobility Start-Up Award

International Fleet Industry Award

International Fleet Hall of Fame Award

 

Global Fleet Manager of the Year Award

As globalisation continues within the fleet industry, so does the importance of managing fleets on a global level. That's why, for the first time ever, the Fleet Europe Awards celebrated a Fleet Manager of the Year with a specifically global role. 

The Global Fleet Manager of the Year Award aimed to honour a team or person managing a fleet at global level – i.e. on at least two continents – and having successfully developed a global fleet approach. 

The winner in of the 2017 Global Fleet Manager of the year was Juergen Freitag, Head of Global Fleet Management at Siemens AG. He received his prize from Stefan Herbert, Senior Manager International Corporate Sales at Mercedes-Benz. 

Siemens AG is one of the largest industrial manufacturing companies in the world; Mr. Freitag is responsible for 48,000 vehicles worldwide. Together with his team Mr. Freitag succeeded in developing and rolling out a global programme in which global guidance principles go hand in hand with engaged stakeholder management and local flexibility to secure fleet management efficiency.

Some quotes from the jury:

“A truly global strategy with clear responsibilities and an efficient steering on regional and local levels”

“Good cost transparency per country”

“TCO management programme led to double-digit savings”

The runner-up in the category Global Fleet Manager of the Year was Lee Warner, Global Fleet Manager at Unilever. He received his award from Jörg Löffler, CEO at Fleet Logistics. 

Second runner-up in the category Global Fleet Manager of the Year was Kim Stenberg, Head of Global Fleet Procurement at Vestas Wind Systems. He accepted his prize from the hands of Steven Schoefs, Editor in Chief at Fleet Europe. 

European Fleet Manager of the Year Award

The European Fleet Manager of the Year Award is traditionally the most prestigious and coveted accolade of the evening. It rewards the person or team having most successfully developed a pan-European fleet management strategy and implemented an efficient Europe-wide car policy, leading to an optimised TCO. The jury recognised three candidates as worthy of distinction.  

The winner of the 2017 Fleet Europe European Fleet Manager of the Year Award was Peter Szelenyi, Global Fleet Category Manager and Regional Travel Category Manager Region Europe at Novartis AG. He received his award from Mark Howlett, Fleet Sales Manager Europe at KIA.  

Novartis is a pharmaceutical company; Mr. Szelenyi is responsible for 30,000 vehicles worldwide. 

Some quotes from the jury:

“The TCO cost sourcing model was proven to be successful in savings and was well received”.

“Developed strong template and control”

“Central steering and local responsibility”

The runner-up in the category Fleet Europe European Fleet Manager of the Year was Michael Pohl, Sr. Procurement Engagement Manager Fleet at Microsoft. He received his prize from Vinzenz Pflanz, CSO at Sixt Leasing. 

Second runners-up in the category Fleet Europe European Fleet Manager of the Year were Prachi Misra, Sourcing Director at NCR and Danilo Djurovic, Europe Fleet Manager at NCR. They received their award from Andy Leeden, Global Category Manager at AstraZeneca, and winner of the 2016 International Fleet Manager of the Year Award (Large Fleet).  

International Fleet Safety Award

The International Fleet Safety Award celebrates a company that has successfully implemented a driver safety project thus encouraging others to do the same. This year, the prize went to Heineken, represented by Adriana Holban, Global Buyer, and Reyes Gonzalez, Global Safety Manager, who received this important industry recognition from Julien Lebrun, Head of Marketing and Business Development at Groupe Renault. 

Heineken is a Netherlands-based brewing company; Mrs. Holban and Mrs. Gonzalez are responsible for 18,000 vehicles worldwide. 

Some quotes from the jury:

“Excellent standard KPIs”

“Corporate car policy is truly behind safety”

“Getting the buy-in upstream and downstream”

International Fleet Mobility Award

The International Fleet Mobility Award is presented to a company that has successfully implemented a green project and/or initiative in efficient alternative mobility. This year's prize was handed out by Ralf Kostrewa, Head of Fleet Sales International at Volkswagen Group Fleet International. Taking home the award was Accenture, represented by Alexandra Melville, the company’s Global Category Expert Car Fleet and Mobility.  

Accenture is a global professional services company; Mrs. Melville is responsible for 12,500 vehicles worldwide. 

Some quotes from the jury:

“Transition from fleet management to mobility management in a well-structured governance model”

“A lot of efforts and results on prevention, reduction and mentoring”

“Focus on employee satisfaction”

International Fleet Innovation Award

The International Fleet Innovation Award celebrates a project that stands out in a specific area of fleet management innovation, for example car policy, implementation, international organization, use of tools, driver satisfaction. The award was presented by Edward Kulperger, Europe Vice President of Geotab. It was won by SAP, and collected by Markus Falk, Head of Global Car Fleet at SAP. 

SAP is a German multinational software corporation; Mr. Falk is responsible for 23,000 vehicles worldwide.

Some quotes from the jury:

“Offering a lot of various green mobility options such as TwoGo ridesharing platform”

“Installed an internal competition programme for the fuel consumption”

Smart Mobility Start-Up Award

For the second year running, Fleet Europe celebrated excellence in start-ups from the fleet and lease ecosphere. Three prizes were awarded, based on the levels of innovation, efficiency, implementation, impact and future prospects for the services and products presented by 11 candidates that were selected by a professional jury. 

The laureates were determined by a mix of jury votes (70%) and online votes from the European fleet community (30%). They received their prize from Dave Cussell, General Manager of the Fleet, Leasing & Network Development Division at Toyota Motor Europe. 

Each laureate also received a cheque from Vincent Degives, Marketing Manager at Fleet Europe. The amounts (€2,500 for the third prize, €5,000 for the second prize and €10,000 for the first prize) can be used towards an international media campaign on the Smart Mobility Management platform. 

The winner of the 2017 Smart Mobility Start-Up of the Year Award is PARKD.

The runner-up of the 2017 Smart Mobility Start-Up of the Year Award is CarPay Diem.

Second runner-up of the 2017 Smart Mobility Start-Up of the Year Award is Kowo.  

International Fleet Industry Award

The International Fleet Industry Award celebrates the role of suppliers in enhancing fleet management. This Award is designed to highlight innovative tools, products or services offered by international fleet suppliers that help global fleet managers to optimise their car fleet. Two awards were provided in this category. The winners received their awards from Ciprian Suta, European Corporate Sales and Leasing Director at Opel Automobile GmbH.

Winner in this category was Tesla, for Autopilot.

The award was collected by Hamish Phillips, Corporate Sales at Tesla. 

A quote from the jury:

“Excellent presentation, well prepared and with a focus on the future of e-vehicles”

Runner-up in this category was Arval, with Integral Fleet.

The award was collected by Bart Beckers, CCO at Arval.

International Fleet Hall of Fame Award

This year for the first time ever, the former inductees into the International Fleet Hall of Fame selected the candidates for this year’s induction. The final decision on who would get the honour of entering the International Fleet Hall of Fame was made by the Fleet community itself. Casting 5,568 online votes, they picked one of four pre-selected candidates. This year's winner is Tim Albertsen, Group Deputy CEO at ALD S.A. He received his award from Christoph von Meyer, Head of International Corporate Sales at BMW Group, and Thierry Degives, CEO of Fleet Europe. 

Tim Albertsen is Group Deputy CEO at ALD, the operational leasing and fleet management subsidiary of Société Générale, one of Europe's leading financial services groups. He oversees the company's subsidiaries throughout Europe and Asia, is also in charge of ALD's Remarketing activities, and co-chairs the Group's Strategy team. 

Mr. Albertsen started his career in the leasing and rental business in Denmark, fulfilling various managerial roles at Avis and Axus. After ALD's acquisition of Axus, he was appointed Regional Director in 2005, Group COO in 2008, and finally Group Deputy CEO in 2011 – which he combines with various executive positions within and without the ALD Group.

Authored by: Steven Schoefs