Ian has been passionate about cars and anything else on wheels since being driven in his father’s E-Type aged just four.

After leaving school and working as a garage technician, he learned all aspects of the retail motor trade. On the day he saw a brand-new Porsche being handed over to its owner, he decided he wanted to sell cars for a living and pursued a job in sales, setting him up for a life in the automotive industry, which he adores.

Having worked in both retail and corporate roles for many of the world’s most desirable car brands including Porsche, BMW, Rolls-Royce and McLaren, he formed Casmin Group. The business brings together the founders’ passion for cars, business performance and customer satisfaction to provide an all-encompassing offering to car manufacturers and end-users.    

Ian brings his specialist skills to Casmin Group in the form of:

• Sales pipeline creation
• Negotiation
• Private Office / Direct Sales set-up & management
• Networking and rapport building
• Delivering sustainable results 
• Doing What He Says He Will Do

Like co-founder Ian Smith, Nick had a passion for motorcycles and cars from an early age. 

He entered the automotive world with Goodyear, developing franchise partners, and then moved to Honda Motor Europe, holding a range of positions over his 17-year tenure including Head of Network Development and running its UK motorcycle operation for five years.  With a move to McLaren Automotive as Global Head of Sales Development he worked in a range of functions to help develop the brand and sales in key markets.

As one of the founders of Casmin Group, Nick is now focusing his experience of the automotive and motorcycle industries to support bespoke and niche manufacturers in achieving their sales ambitions.

Nick is a qualified business coach and is also engaged as a non-executive director in the automotive industry.

The specialist skills he brings to Casmin Group include:

• Sales strategy and planning
• Customer Relationship Management
• Customer experience
• Journey mapping
• Standards & process development
• Sales programme creation

Barnett is a highly experienced brand marketing, sponsorship/partnership and activation specialist within the global automotive, luxury goods, technology, sports and entertainment sectors.

He built his first company, BFP, into one of Europe’s largest brand activation agencies, working across Europe for some of the world’s leading brands.

In 1997 Barnett sold BFP to the Interpublic network to become part of McCann-Erickson’s worldwide experiential marketing network, Momentum, leading the group’s acquisition and development strategy and sitting on the global board. He subsequently developed and exited two further agency groups.

Since 2006 he has run a virtual marketing communications consultancy working with companies, brands, rights-holders, investment groups and private equity entities to create sponsorship, partnership and activation campaigns.

Barnett’s passion for cars is demonstrated by having raced in a number of categories ranging from sports endurance and one-make Ferrari series to single-seaters, and instructing on high-performance courses.

Mark is an automotive and luxury brand and expert, using trend insights to inform strategies. He has worked to board level in automotive brands and in consultancy. 

After stints producing TV commercials and in motoring journalism he became PR manager for Toyota GB, launching the Lexus brand. He then launched Daewoo Cars and steered its European strategy. At Michelin Tyre, as Director of Communications Northern Europe, he created the global launch campaign for its F1 return and led its exploitation.

He has since consulted for OEM brands ranging from McLaren to Hyundai-Kia and served as the automotive expert for advertising and brand agencies. He has also advised on automotive in the corporate and financial sector, having been retained long-term by RBS, Grant Thornton and Thomson Reuters.

Mark loves cars and driving, and raced in karts and single-seaters.

Matthew is formerly Head of Design at Morgan Cars, where he modernised the company’s design capabilities, product offering and brand perception. He created the hydrogen fuel-cell Life Car, Aeromax, Plus 8, Eva GT, Supersports and Aero Coupe, and reinvented the iconic Morgan three-wheeler.

He went on to work as a senior vehicle design tutor at London’s world-renowned Royal College of Art while establishing Matthew Humphries Design. MHD has been involved with many boutique vehicle brands including Brabham Automotive, Bristol Cars, Elemental and McMurtry Automotive, as well as projects at Williams Advanced Engineering. Matthew can interpret a brief and take the customer through the development process, from initial sketch ideation to design concepts which can be taken to low-cost production of bespoke vehicles.

Matthew has a passion for horology. He serves as head of design for the historic Lonville watch brand and has established a watch brand of his own, MHD Watches, manufacturing timepieces sharing vehicle design influences.

Sheila is a marketing and transformation leader with a deep understanding of customer needs and behaviour, a core skill for Casmin. She is passionate about developing the best customer offer and experience.

Most recently director of performance and planning at Barclays retail responsible for improving customer experience, she led the Covid response to help customers with money resilience and a strategic review of Barclays’ loyalty offer.

Sheila has worked in many sectors as an executive, interim and consultant. She is a CRM and membership native who has headed up strategy, loyalty, performance and digital marketing at Sainsbury’s, Shell, Selfridges, Hammerson, the RAC, B&Q and Homebase. Her understanding of the membership and subscription business model was highly effective when applied to the National Trust.

Sheila is also a proponent of the green economy and was an interim executive for The Energy Saving Trust.

Tom has worked in senior commercial roles globally for 25 years, specialising in international B2C and B2B sales.

He brings an excellent skill set to Casmin. He is multi-lingual, speaking English, French, German and some Italian. He is also a self-confessed petrol-head and identified a market niche by promoting to customers in Europe and the US desirable LHD cars for sale in the UK. This gave him a growing network of (U)HNWI clients.

From sourcing off-market high-value cars for his clients and finding buyers for sellers of such cars he diversified into other lifestyle goods including watches, accessories and art. He has since also sourced leads and developed sales pipelines for niche luxury companies in the travel and event industries.

Tom’s passion for cars means he can often be found at the circuit on in the clubhouse on the Goodwood estate.

Will is a highly successful specialist accessing tax relief for companies undertaking research and development.

While this has seen him working across industries as diverse as nuclear, defence, software and beauty, it has also given valuable experience of the car and motorcycle sectors, where R&D tax credits can be hugely valuable for the boutique manufacturers and engineering houses developing specialist products and technologies.

Will has a background in manufacturing and innovation, including time at Honda, Make UK and specialist innovation firms, with further experience in marketing, sales development, grant funding access and product development.

He is also passionate about cars and motorcycles and has undertaken road-trip adventures including crossing the Himalayas on a Royal Enfield.