A quick round up the latest appointments news in the industry;
Advantage Travel
The Advantage Travel Partnership has appointed Heather Haggis as Head of Financial Services at Advantage Financial Services (AFS). Heather will be responsible for overseeing the division and will initially be carrying out a full audit on AFS’ current offering to identify ways in which to add value, and ultimately diversify its product offering for the Advantage members.
Heather was previously the Business Development Manager for AmTrust Underwriting Limited, a specialist travel and health insurance company, where her role was to create the sales strategy for the company and deliver on the performance for the whole of the UK insurance broker market. Prior to this, Heather was the International Trading Underwriter for Aviva, where she was responsible for creating and delivering on strategic and financial targets for the international underwriting strategy.
Avid
Senior Insurance executive Mark Cliff has been appointed chairman of Avid Insurance Services Ltd [Avid]. Cliff takes up his role, which has been approved by the FCA, with immediate effect.
Avid, an MGA which is majority owned by Beech Tree Private Equity, specialises in social housing, council leasehold markets and travel.
Avid founder and MD Stephen Gibson, said: ‘I am extremely pleased to welcome Mark as Avid Chairman. His wide-ranging experience will be an invaluable asset to Avid as we move forward with our exciting plans for growth in our existing markets and in new sectors and products.
“Mark will help steer our strategy and assist our business development, including inorganic growth, where we have made no secret of our desire to acquire businesses and specialist underwriting teams, where they make strategic sense.”
Gibson said that despite challenging market conditions the business has been resilient through the Covid crisis, and was well placed to pick up growth again as the UK economy recovers. “We continue to enjoy strong backing from insurer partners, a robust technology platform and a clear-sighted view of the growth opportunities that are arising as the market reacts to the pandemic.”
Mark Cliff said: “Avid is one of the most exciting prospects in the MGA sector. Steve and John (Inwood), commercial director, are highly regarded, experienced operators. They have built a genuine thoroughbred and I am confident it will deliver success for its clients, insurer partners and investors.”
ThingCo
Martin Williams, one of the motor insurance market’s most respected figures, has been appointed Chief Operating Officer and Board Director for ThingCo, the insurtech 100 business created by telematics pioneer, Mike Brockman to develop the next generation of telematics. Martin joins ThingCo from Octo UK, where he has held the position of MD and VP Revenue and Sales for the past 7 years.
The appointment has been made as ThingCo achieves a significant milestone with the roll-out of Theo, the voice enabled, self-installed solar powered telematics device.
Mike Brockman, CEO of ThingCo says: “Martin has the perfect mix of global telematics experience, deep industry knowledge and strong strategic thinking to help take ThingCo to the next level. Most importantly, Martin shares our passion to change the game in motor insurance telematics through next generation technology. It is fantastic to have him on board at such a critical time in our development as Theo devices start rolling off the production line.
“This is just the start, there is so much more to achieve and Martin will be a driving force for good as we reach out to global markets and TheoPro – our revolutionary seeing, sensing and talking AI enabled device in 2021.”
Pen Underwriting
Pen Underwriting has promoted Alex Tinsley to the newly created position of Head of Technical Claims, as it continues to invest in enhancing its in-house claims capabilities as a virtual insurer.
Previously Pen’s Head of Commercial Claims, Alex’s new role will see him take company-wide responsibility for claims across all divisions in setting strategy, agreeing personal delegated authority levels and delivering a robust and responsive service to Pen’s insurer partners and capacity providers, while serving as the highest point of technical referral for claims.
It follows the promotion of Billy Hinken, announced in April, to the complementary claims leadership role of Head of Claims Operations. Both Alex and Billy continue to report into Gareth Crosbie, Pen’s Claims Director.
Alex brings more than 20 years’ industry experience to his new role, including technical claims handling, consulting, negotiation and management on behalf of Lloyd’s syndicates and insurance companies, across a broad spectrum of commercial and personal insurances.
Momentum Broker
Momentum Broker Solutions, the fast-growing broker network, has made a number of new appointments to bolster its 50 plus strong broking and finance teams. It has appointed three new brokers and an additional finance assistant.
Barbara Preston joins as a Broker, with 14 years’ commercial broking experience including nine years with AON. She joins from Abaco Insurance Brokers where she was a Senior Account Manager. She has experience across all commercial lines, specialising in Property and SME.
Michael Cooper, Cert CII, joins Momentum as a broker. He is an award-winning sales executive with 17 years’ experience in insurance working for brokers and insurers including Forces Insurance, Swinton Insurance, and nine years at RBS Insurance.
Gemma Smith, Cert CII, has also been appointed as a broker. She joins with more than five years’ commercial broking experience with specialist experience in liability at Inspire Insurance and Godiva Insurance, following a formal graduate trainee scheme with HIA International.
In addition, Lorraine Elkington joins the Momentum finance team as an experienced finance assistant.
Momentum Managing Director, Howard Pepper, comments: “We’ve made these latest appointments to ensure we stay one step ahead of our growth curve and continue to provide a high-quality service. Momentum is well known for the quality of its broking team and that has never been so important for our partners than now, as we head into a hard market. Our appointed representatives continue to enjoy high growth levels, achieving on average 18% growth compared to the industry average of just 3% and that is in no small part down to our recruitment strategy – hiring and retaining the best broking talent so that our appointed representatives can focus on new business and client service. I extend a warm welcome to all our new joiners.”
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