NAFA President Ruth Alfson, CAFM®; CEO of GE Capital Fleet Services Kristi Webb; and NAFA CEO Phil Russo, CAE
On Friday, April 10, GE announced that it will reduce the size of GE Capital through the sale of most GE Capital assets and focus on continued investment and growth in its industrial and manufacturing businesses. The sale of these assets, including the GE Capital Fleet Services business, is expected to be completed within 24 months.
NAFA’s newly installed President Ruth Alfson, CAFM® sat down with Kristi Webb, CEO, GE Capital Fleet Services, to discuss how this would affect GE Capital Fleet’s client base, many of whom are members of NAFA and in attendance at NAFA’s Institute & Expo this week.
"GE Capital is fully committed to serving our customers during this period and going forward until a sale is complete," Webb said. "Nothing changes in our relationship with customers today."
Webb said that GE Capital Fleet Services’ primary goal is to keep investing in its customer experience and value proposition. "The investments we’ve made in services, products and technology remain in place, and we’re not changing our commercial strategy."
The announcement of GE’s divestiture comes only weeks after LeasePlan Corp. confirmed it is actively discussing selling the Dutch company and its U.S. fleet management division to an investment group; a deal which has since been taken off the table. In 2014, fleet management company PHH was acquired by Element Fleet Management.When asked about the future of alternative fuels for fleet customers, Webb shared GE Capital Fleet Services’ continued interest in exploring sustainability and alternative energy vehicle options for customers. The GE Vehicle Innovation Center in Eden Prairie, MN, which was a key element of NAFA’s 2014 I&E, has become a hub for customers and the community to discuss alternative fuels, telematics, advanced analytics and other innovations.
"We opened the Vehicle Innovation Center in 2012; at that time, a lot of the focus was on electric vehicles, but we always were looking at alternate fuels as a whole. There hasn’t been a ‘winner’ as far as a specific fuel types are concerned. It’s going to be about the spectrum of options."
"I feel we still have so much more to do," Webb concluded. "Our fleet services business is focused on two areas: investing in our value proposition and our customer experience. We intend to grow and continue to add value for our customers."