Access Alliance - Michelle hands over the baton to the new chairperson
Friday 15th October

New Access Alliance chairman

Congratulations, Michelle, on two successful years in the post and best of luck to Frederick George Marriott at Access Plus for his stint as Chairman.

The Access Alliance, the UK association of independent rental companies, has appointed Access Plus managing director George Marriott as chairman after the association met in person for the first time since the outbreak of Covid-19.

He replaces Michelle Warren of Warren Access, who has served in the role for the past two years. Hosted by Snorkel, the association also appointed Hire and Supplies as a full member at the meeting.

Read the full story at Vertikal.net.

What Michelle has to say about the handover

Well, it’s been a very significant couple of days, as my position as Chairlady of the Access Alliance for the last two years, drew to a close yesterday. I was delighted to hand the baton over to Frederick George Marriott at Access Plus, at our first face to face Access Alliance meeting since before Covid. I would like to wish George all the best in the role and I have no doubt that he will do an excellent job for the next 18 months.

For me personally, being voted in as Vice Chairlady 18 months prior to this in 2018 by the members, was a really big deal, as I am the first woman to be voted into the seat and then continue on to become Chairlady. I learned the ropes working alongside Steve Simmons from Star Platforms and Mike Webb and then took over as Chairlady in October 2019, with the support of Jonathan Till and then George Marriott as my Vice Chairmen for the following 24 months and the ongoing support from Mike Webb too.

I have learnt a lot about myself during this period and it has definitely pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I have been given opportunities that I would never have had the privilege to do and it has been a fantastic experience. I will miss all of the ‘behind the scenes’ work that goes on! Thank you to everyone in the Access Alliance for believing in me to lead the group over the last two years… it really means a lot. Being in the seat throughout Covid, brought an extra layer of challenges that none of us could have foreseen, but we got through it together.

As a fitting exit, we were hosted by Snorkel in Washington, so I would like to say a huge thank you to Andrew Fishburn for organising a great and informative day. Our meeting was held at the Hilton Gateshead in the morning and then we had a guided tour of Snorkel in the afternoon which was very interesting, where we found out all about their new zero emission lithium-iron products. We were really impressed with what we saw.

I would also like to say a big congratulations to Hire and Supplies for becoming a full Access Alliance member. We were also delighted to welcome the Directors who were able to visit our amazing new depot this morning, before heading back to their own depots. It was great to show everyone around our new Training Centre, offices and see some of our fleet.”