Changes to the IVR Council

The Institute of Vehicle Recovery has announced changes to the IVR Council, which came into force following the full Council meeting in April.

After eight years as IVR chairman, followed by a mandatory year as vice chair, Mac Hobbs FIVR has been elected to the honorary post of vice president of the Institute. Mac works tirelessly for the IVR and what many forget is that all posts held by the Council are voluntary and take the members away from the day to day issues of their business lives.

With the position of vice chairman becoming vacant it was down to the Council to elect a successor and the vice chair was offered to, and accepted by, Mark Hartell MIVR. Although often thought of as the youngster on the Council Mark has been a member of the Institute since 1996 and has sat on the Council since 2003. He is the managing director of Recovery Safe Training Services and has previously worked for Eriksons, Mondial, and Ontime. He is one of only three CAT 4 instructors within the IVR.

Current IVR chairman Chris Hoare FIVR said;

‘I invited Mark to be my vice chairman as we need to look to the next generation to drive the Institute forward. His appointment will show members that we aren’t an ‘old boys club’ and hopefully encourage younger guys to stand for Council in the future. The recovery industry is evolving in a way that even twenty years ago we couldn’t have imagined and developing a strategy to deal with this is vital. I’m convinced Mark it the right man for the job.’

Others changes agreed are the appointment of John Coldwell FIVR as honorary treasurer and the confirmation of a newly appointed Council member Stephen Vipond MIVR.

John Coldwell joined the IVR in 1984, 12 months after its inception, and became a Council member in 2009. He is currently sales manager at Boniface Engineering and has previously held the posts of chairman of REMSA and vice chair of the IVR.

This year sees the appointment to Council of Stephen Vipond MIVR. Stephen began his career in the early 1970s when he joined the AA as a patrolman covering Oxfordshire. After ten years on the road he was promoted to sergeant and within a couple of years had been promoted once again to inspector, responsible for three sergeants and forty-two patrolmen in the Oxford/Reading area. In the late 80s he broaden his horizons and became more involved with training and in the late 90’s instructed at the Automobile Association Patrol Service Training School at Widmerpool Hall, which was popularly known as ‘ The AA Academy’. He continues to be involved in all aspects of training.

As stated in the Chairman’s Report at this year’s AGM the last twelve months has seen an increase in the workload of IVR (TS), following several independent approaches from external bodies. The Institute’s expertise has been sought either on recommendation or reputation and both show the IVR is going in the right direction and is recognised as a leader in its field.