Barbara Cox Awards 2024 nominees:
Lucy Line
Deputy Managing Director at Novuna Vehicle Solutions
Brief biography of you and your career
Deputy Managing Director Lucy Line began her career at Novuna Vehicle Solutions as an Accounts Assistant, qualifying as a Chartered Management Account. She then became Commercial Manager before joining the Senior Leadership Team as Head of Operations in 2011.
Since then, Lucy has held several leadership positions, helping Novuna become one of Britain’s fastest-growing leasing companies with a fleet of more than 110,000 vehicles. Lucy’s 20 years in automotive have given her a deep understanding of customer needs across Novuna’s Total Asset Solution business. She is laser-focused on her drive to understand and respond to customers’ changing needs. She oversees a team of 540 people responsible for a fleet of 110,000 vehicles and is pioneering the digital transformation of the business, ensuring Novuna’s Customer First Strategy remains at the heart of everything they do.
Her strategic ambition to create products and services that solve our customer’s problems has led Novuna Vehicle Solutions to win multiple accolades, including the Fleet News Leasing Company of the Year award five out of the past six years and The Institute of Customer Service Sustainable Customer Service Award.
Lucy co-created the Novuna Women in Business Network in 2023 to support and empower women in the company. She believes they can achieve anything they set their minds to, personally and as a team. Her ethos is focused on understanding both the ‘why?’ and ‘why not?’ – working together to achieve individual and collective goals. Teamwork is fundamental to success.
Outside of work, Lucy loves spending time with her daughters, supporting local community events and getting her competitive fix on the netball court.
What is your proudest achievement as a leader or role model?
“I am proud of the team we have built at Novuna and how we support our customers in solving their problems, big and small.
“I focus on anticipating, listening to, and responding to our customers and working with them side by side with my teams when needed to ensure we deliver.
I am also proud of demonstrating that you can have a family and a career. I underestimated the impact being a parent would have, but I have seen that sharing my experience has helped others be kinder to themselves when navigating this tricky balance. Also, when moving up in an organisation, I have seen that it’s possible to support others on their journeys.”
What is the most significant innovation you have been involved with?
We have been taking huge strides regarding decarbonisation, helping society by helping our customers transition to net zero. My role within this has been to ensure that we are keeping pace with these changes and that we have the right business model in place to provide scale.
There is lots more to come in this space and it is very exciting.
What do you do to give back to charity and/or the wider community?
“I wish I could do more. Before becoming a mum, I was the chair of my local netball club. “Now, with a young family and a busy job, I find it more challenging, but we support where we can by attending local events for the schools/community on weekends and supporting local businesses/shops in our small town.”
What advice would you give to a woman considering a career in automotive?
“Now is an incredibly exciting time to be part of automotive as there’s so much we can do to help shape the future of fleets and support them in the net zero transition. There’s also an incredible amount of variety, whether you’re a self-confessed car geek, someone who finds commercial vehicles fascinating, or prefer roles in operations, customer services, finance, risk, or marketing, to name a few.
“Historically, women have been put off being part of automotive, but it’s grown to be an inclusive and exciting space. For one thing, gender hardly matters if we’re all on the road to net zero! My key piece of advice is to choose a company that feels like home. Look for an organisation whose mission and vision you connect with, whose values resonate with yours and whose culture and environment allow you to thrive. Find a place where the people inspire you daily. For me, Novuna has been that place. From starting as a 21-year-old in my first office job to becoming a mum of two, I’ve thrived in Novuna’s dynamic environment, where putting customers first and continuous improvement for colleagues and customers is paramount.”
What advice would you give your younger self on having a successful career?
“If I could speak to my younger self, I would offer the following advice: Gain as much experience as you can across your company and seek out different mentors to learn from. Soak it up and challenge yourself to always be curious. When an opportunity arises, go for it—you never know when it might come around again. I would tell myself to never give up and aim to be just 1% better every day, ensuring you’re consistently developing.
“Most Importantly, be kind to yourself. You often learn more from failure than success, so embrace it. There are still a couple of reminders I still tell myself today: You can do anything, but you can’t do everything. Enjoy the journey. Balancing ambition with self-care and taking each step with curiosity and resilience has been key to my development and career.”
