In a reshuffle of the top jobs in the UK, DAF Trucks Ltd has promoted Laurence Drake to the role of managing director. He will succeed Robin Easton, who takes on a new role as assistant general manager operations for PACCAR Financial Corporation.
This changes will be effective from September, and will see Easton return to PACCAR Financial, taking responsibility for its Mexican and Australian finance companies, collections and used equipment. He became MD of DAF Trucks in 2017, after a two-and-a-half year spell as MD of PACCAR India and has helped to consolidate the Dutch manufacturer’s leading position within the market, which has been held for the past 20 years.
At just 44, Drake is DAF’s youngest ever UK boss, and his promotion follows “a long and successful career” within DAF Trucks and Paccar Financial in a variety of managerial positions in sales, credit, operations and business planning, with UK sales director being his most recent title.
Succeeding Drake in that role, is Russell Patmore, aged 51. Having joined DAF as a graduate trainee, Patmore has been a ‘DAF man’ for the past 29 years. He’s “progressed through various sales roles with increasing levels of responsibility” for both PACCAR Financial and DAF Trucks, most recently as business planning director for the last two years.
