VINCENT St Claire has been appointed managing director of Fleet Assist.

Formerly the company’s commercial director of three years, St Claire assumes responsibility for the day-to-day running of the business, which also sees a further strengthening of its senior management team with the promotion of Jonathan Smith to chief information officer and Brigitte Deacon to head of finance.

Vincent St Claire will also be responsible for the long-term strategic development of Fleet Assist with fellow board members and co-founders Mike Smith and Simon English – who both plan to take more of a back seat in the firm.

Smith, who will be 60 later this year, said: “We would both like to free up a little time, so we have decided to take a step backwards and relinquish the day-to-day running of the business to younger colleagues, who will lead the business on to the next stage of its development.”

He added: “Simon and I will remain as directors and the principal shareholders in the business and strategically support Vincent and the senior management team to take Fleet Assist on to the next level.”

Fleet Assist was launched in 2003 and has expanded into the UK’s leading supply chain management specialist, delivering a wide range of services to major contract hire and leasing companies collectively operating more than 790,000 vehicles.