Highest recognition for ALPHERA marketing manager Gerry Kouris who wins ‘Personality of the Year’ at the IAFN Awards 2018
Kouris’ outstanding work recognised in promoting Education and Accreditation within the auto finance industry

ALPHERA Financial Services, BMW Group’s multi award-winning independent motor finance division, has again been recognised for its customer-focused initiatives. Gerry Kouris, Marketing Manager and instigator of Alphera’s push for finance and insurance (F&I) accreditation in the motor retail industry, has been named ‘Auto Finance Personality of the Year’ at the recent International Asset Finance Network (IAFN) Awards 2018.

The Personality of the Year award is designed to recognise the individual who has made the most noteworthy contribution to the car finance industry in the last 15 months. The IAFN awards are particularly special as they are being chaired by the fabled Adrian Dally, Head of Motor Finance at the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), whose main aim was to provide external independent certification of the judging process and assessed by a judging panel of more than 30 industry leaders.

When presenting the award, Professor Colin Tourick, co-founder of the IAFN said: “Gerry is the driving force behind the creation of the first ever car finance accreditation for dealers and brokers, developed with the Institute of the Motor Industry. Gerry’s efforts have helped to establish a universal kitemark of quality that will improve consumer confidence in the sale of car finance products.”

Commenting on his award win, Gerry said: “While the Financial Conduct Authority investigates compliant selling in the UK motor finance sector, the F&I accreditation scheme represents a significant step towards establishing consistently high standards of sale. Our work follows the example already laid out by industry leaders such as the IMI and the FLA, whose standard specialist automotive finance programmes are the platform from which F&I specialists can go on to achieve accreditation.”

The creation of the Developing F&I Excellence accreditation initiative is directly linked to Gerry’s commitment to training and personal growth. Gerry’s life-long love of learning has influenced his career choices and education. Harvard-educated Kouris joined the BWG Group Financial Services in 2016, with a wealth of industry and management experience.

His passion for education has seen him achieve a BSc from University of London, a Warwick Business School MSc in marketing and an MSc from King’s College London in accounting and finance. His continual efforts have contributed to the success of the accreditation programme, and the scheme has gone a long way to establishing a universal kitemark of quality that will improve consumer confidence in the sale of car finance products.