Tim Buchan, CEO of leading independent leasing, fleet management and vehicle outsourcing business Zenith, has become the latest member of the Automotive 30% Club – an initiative which aims to increase gender representation within the automotive industry.
Joining on behalf of the Leeds-based company, Tim has become a silver member of the Automotive 30% Club in a move to help further support Zenith’s equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) strategy and complements the work the company is doing to improve gender representation and equality across both the Zenith Group and the wider industry.
The Automotive 30% Club is a voluntary network of MDs and CEOs from UK-based automotive manufacturing, retailing and supplier companies. Founded by Julia Muir, CEO of Gaia Innovation, the group aims to achieve a better gender balance within the automotive industry by filling at least 30% of key leadership positions of the member organisations with diverse women by 2030.
Since launching its ambitious ED&I strategy in 2021, Zenith has made ongoing developments in each of its six focus areas, with significant progress being made in gender representation. As such, recent Zenith data has highlighted that women accounted for 54% of all colleagues promoted and 63% of senior leadership appointments, while the Group has also reduced its mean gender pay gap by 5.7% to further support its gender diversity goals.
Tim Buchan, CEO of Zenith, commented: “Since launching almost two years ago, our diversity and inclusion agenda has been at the core of our people strategy as we continue to value difference and reflect the communities we serve. One focus of this is gender representation – which our industry has traditionally struggled with.
“It’s an area where we’ve made huge steps forward, with accomplishments including female representation within our non-statutory directors’ team growing from 28% in 2022 to 43% in 2023. While this is a great start, we know we still have a long way to go to get to where we want to be and have focused plans to build on this further.
“As we look to make a true difference, we’re delighted to be the latest member of the Automotive 30% Club – a much-needed initiative that is driving positive change within the automotive sector. By working together, learning about the successes of others while sharing our own achievements, I’m confident we can attain and retain the best people, while continuing to establish an industry which truly champions gender diversity.”
Julia Muir, founder of the Automotive 30% Club, added: “”I’m very pleased to welcome Tim Buchan, CEO of Zenith, into the Automotive 30% Club. Zenith is the UK’s leading independent leasing, fleet management and vehicle outsourcing business.
“It’s fantastic to see that Tim is increasing female representation in leadership roles and is creating an inclusive culture that ensures currently underrepresented groups will be able to access roles and thrive in the company. It will be great to have Tim and the Zenith team in the Club. I shall look forward to delivering their Change the Game Workshop and including them in our Club best practice sharing meetings in the future.”
