neWS

SIMI President - Antonia Hendron

The news spotlight shone brightly around Dublin 11 following the dual news stories that Antonia Hendron, Managing Director, M50 Truck & Van Centre, Dublin has been elected as President of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), while Glen Guildea has been promoted to Director of the company, from his previous role of General Manager.

Speaking on her appointment at the SIMI AGM in Naas, Antonia Hendron commented that she was looking forward to her term as President and outlined a number of clear priorities: “Firstly, I want to help position the motor industry as a leader and enabler of the green transition. We are a dynamic and innovative industry, and if policy makers and legislators are prepared to work with us, we will help them achieve Ireland’s ambitious climate targets. Consumers are the centre of this plan and for them to make the change to zero emission vehicles confidence is key. Therefore, there is an urgent requirement to create a second-hand electric vehicle fleet which can only happen via a vibrant overall new car market. In this context, it is imperative that the Government continues the VRT and grant support for Electric Vehicle until 2025, at which time these supports can be reviewed and invest now in the public charging infrastructure.”

With the green transition dominating the agenda for the foreseeable future, Ms Hendron remarked: “I am determined to ensure that the industry continues to focus on delivering high standards and

Glen Guildea - Company Director M50 Truck & Van Centre

supporting the training and upskilling of our people. I also want to co-opt government support for apprenticeships and upskilling of our mechanics. The rapid rollout of electric cars means that our people have to be more highly trained than ever before. With a full Cabinet position of Minister for Higher Education for the first time ever, it seems that the government is keen to invest in further training and especially in apprenticeships.”

As the Managing Director of the M50 Truck & Van Centre, Antonia Hendron is actively involved in the commercial vehicle sector, serving as both the Chairperson of the SIMI VTN Committee and a member of the Society’s Management Board.

Antonia joined the family firm, founded in the 1940s, in 2003 and in 2018 took over as MD from her father Tom. With her eye firmly on diversification as a way to make business more resilient, profitable, and scalable, in 2009 M50GSE was created to provide maintenance and repair for ground support equipment at Dublin and Shannon Airports. In recent years, she added a third division, M50 Power Solutions, which holds franchises for Hoppecke batteries. Today M50TVC is one of Ireland’s largest authorised commercial test centres. It also operates one of the biggest Mercedes-Benz & FUSO commercial dealerships, and this year it acquired the sole franchise to sell electric Mercedes-Benz vans in Dublin.

Meanwhile, the M50 Truck & Van Centre has promoted long serving employee Glen Guildea to Director from his previous role of General Manager. Glen started his apprenticeship in the motor trade in 1998 and joined the M50 Truck & Van Centre team in 2005 as a qualified Mercedes-Benz technician.

During his time at M50 TVC, Glen trained as a Mercedes-Benz Diagnostic Technician and progressed through workshop and aftersales management roles. He was honoured with a Technician of the Year Award at the Fleet Transport Awards. Glen has since gone on to successfully manage the Sales and Aftersales teams as Operations and General Manager and has taken on responsibility for M50 TVC’s key customer accounts, the delivery of a consistently strong performance and has subsequently worked his way up to be the company’s Director.

Commenting on the promotion, Antonia Hendron, Managing Director said: “I am delighted that Glen will be joining the Board of Directors. Anyone who has had the pleasure of working with Glen will know that he is a fantastic manager and is well respected by his colleagues, our customers and those in the Mercedes-Benz network.”

Glen added: “having worked at M50 Truck & van Centre for the past 17 years, I’ve always passionate about the business. We have a great team of people who work well together and I am honoured to now be a Director. M50 has always supported my ambition to succeed and I’m really looking forward to this new challenge.”