Hi, Grant. Can you tell us about your role at One Nexus?
My role as Head of Commercial Development means I’m tasked with identifying potential business opportunities and further raising One Nexus’ profile within the automotive industry. As OEMs operate in a post-Covid world, brand loyalty is everything. One Nexus has built four key pillars, Mobility Aftermarket/Aftersales, Fleet and Innovations, to provide current and potential clients with greater access to its wide range of solutions. Therefore, my role supports OEMs through a consultative approach to integrating the One Nexus Group’s product portfolio into the OEMs’ operations and becoming the Partner of Choice.

What is your experience in the automotive industry so far?
As an automotive industry veteran of more than 40 years, I have been able to serve in a variety of roles throughout my career, including as a technician, sales executive, service manager, and sales manager. The experience gave me a solid foundation to begin working for Audi UK and the Volkswagen Group in 2002, where I spent 18 years. I initially started in Training and Development to equip the Audi network with the knowledge to confidently talk about continually evolving technology. I was also the co-presenter of a programme on the innovative, successful Audi channel on Sky TV called “Your Audi”. I later transitioned into roles within product marketing, customer experience, aftersales, and parts and have been lucky enough to work with global brands such as Toyota and Mercedes-Benz. My previous role was with Vehicle Vision (part of the CitNOW Group), where digitising the customer journey within the sales or after sales experience was front and centre.

How has your journey with One Nexus been so far?
The culture is the most important part of any business, and luckily for me, One Nexus has a fantastic one. Of course, this is a testament to the excellent recruitment from the people at the top of the business. Everyone has been great, and I’ve spent my first few weeks meeting with everyone in the business so I can really get a good understanding of their roles too. Everyone in the team really gets along and understands their roles, which makes for a fantastic work environment. As the old saying goes, if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. So, yeah, it’s been great so far!

What would you say you enjoy most about your job?
It’s early days for me, but I'm really looking forward to the challenges ahead of me. For example, we are looking to define a contact strategy and identify key OEM and manufacturing targets and then determine how we can reach them at the right time. I think it’s fair to say that One Nexus is undoubtedly one of the automotive industry’s best-kept secrets, and I am excited to play a role in supporting the company’s growth aspirations. I look forward to the journey ahead and the successes we will achieve together!

What was it about One Nexus that made you want to get involved?
The best thing about One Nexus is that they are a great company to work for. You feel like a partner within the business rather than an employee, and nothing is off the table regarding bringing ideas to the table. And if the idea has merit, there’s no reason it won’t progress if the management thinks it will support the business. The meaning of One Nexus is about being connected, and that’s exactly what the team here is. However, ultimately, the prospect of being able to help raise the business’s profile is really what made me want to get involved.

Outside of work, what do you enjoy doing?
I love music. I’d say my favourite genres are eighties, jazz, funk, and soul. So, outside of work, I've done a lot of DJing. I started at 13 and have been doing it on and off ever since. I don’t do it as often now, but I still occasionally play at bars and parties for my friends. My favourite events to play and host, is a local event called the BFG, an event dedicated to tribute acts, with me filling in the gaps, with the tunes and you always get a great audience on those events. I've also been lucky enough to DJ on a Soul and Funk club boat, in London, down the Thames, you get a captive audience on those for sure. In fact, I actually met my wife at a nightclub while I was DJing. She approached me and requested a song, which I was happy to play, at the end of the night, she asked if she could still buy the song from a record store, I said "it was unlikely, but if you couldn't, she could have my copy". That’s how we first met, and things just progressed from there! Plus I got the record back. So, I guess music has made a real impact on my life. I even have that record from when we first met and the one from our first dance at our wedding, in frames on the wall above our bed now.

Finally, what is one thing you would like readers to know about yourself or One Nexus that they might not know already?
I’d like readers to know that at One Nexus, we take pride in our deep collaboration with OEMs and dealer groups. We are always eager to have conversations to understand their pain points and leverage the extensive expertise within our team to address those challenges. This collaborative approach allows us to seamlessly integrate our solutions into their businesses, ensuring mutual growth and success, and I can’t wait to get started!