Key leadership appointments at RAA
After celebrating a tremendous first decade in January 2015 as an influential automotive consortium, the Retail Automotive Alliance has announced two new appointments; John Matthews and Paul Knight, who are ready to steer the group through its next decade.
John Matthews has been appointed as the new Business Development Director for the Retail Automotive Alliance and will head up the company’s growth plans. Matthews has over 20 years’ service in the Automotive Industry, working as part of Management Teams with companies such as Audatex, Fix Auto and more recently AutoRestore, a sister company of Autoglass, who pioneered mobile accident repair in the UK.
Paul Knight, previously finance director of Ford Britain and Ford France, has been newly appointed to chairman of the RAA. Knight, who worked at Ford Motor Company from 1970 to 2002 commented, ‘I joined the RAA at its inception in 2005 as the first CEO and saw it through its formative stages to become a successful buying group having achieved savings of over £5million annually. I finally retired that post in April 2009’ he went on to say he was ‘delighted to take RAA through its next stage of development.’ The RAA looks set to take huge steps securing further proficient deals for its member by drawing on Paul’s extensive 45 years of motor industry knowledge and connections.
The Retail Automotive Alliance (RAA) is a collective of 21 Privateer Dealer Groups with 209 locations and 30 brands spread across the UK. The alliance allows partners to benefit from hugely significant purchasing power and to negotiate agreements with major suppliers. The alliance was launched in January 2005 following research by The Cardiff Business College in March 2004 with the 9 founder members establishing the JV in August 2004. The alliance is now notionally the UK’s fifth largest retail motor group in the industry league tables and has a combined turnover of £2.7 billion. The collective is headed by a board of directors including Paul Knight, the rest of whom are members and are some of the industry’s leading executives and entrepreneurs.
‘The Retail Automotive Alliance has just celebrated its 10 year anniversary and the huge success it has achieved with its many purchasing contracts which deliver a great return on investment to all of its 21 Members” said Matthews commenting on his appointment. “We are now ready to look beyond purchasing alone and deliver other business benefits to the Group, so part of my role will be to identify and exploit new opportunities as well as target growth of the network. A very exciting challenge for me and the team and I’m really looking forward to it!’
Matthews will be working closely with the recently appointed chairman, Paul Knight and the group purchasing manager Dean Bradford. He will also be responsible for expanding the range of agreements that has made the RAA the UK’s leading retail automotive purchasing group whilst exploring new trading opportunities outside the procurement arena and growing the RAA membership.
