We have a round up of the latest senior level industry moves for you;
NFU Mutual
Group Chief Executive Lindsay Sinclair will retire at the end of March 2021 after more than 12 years in the role. Lindsay will be succeeded by current Sales and Agency Director, Nick Turner. Subject to regulatory approval, Nick will take up the position of NFU Mutual Group Chief Executive on 1 April 2021.
Commenting on the announcement, NFU Mutual Chairman Jim McLaren said: “Throughout his tenure with us as Group Chief Executive, the company has continued to achieve consistent growth, which is in no small way down to Lindsay’s strong leadership. His contribution over the last 12 years, and more recently throughout the pandemic, has been outstanding. We are delighted that we will continue to work closely with Lindsay over the months ahead to ensure a smooth handover and consistent leadership.”
Lindsay Sinclair said: “As an organisation, we have coped tremendously well through the pandemic and the last few months have been some of my proudest in leading this organisation through some of its toughest challenges. I believe the business now has an excellent footing to continue to thrive and be there for our many members.
Nick Turner added: “I feel privileged to have worked for Lindsay and to be appointed his successor from April next year. I look forward to continuing the company’s strategy and our great work to be the insurer that is consistently there for its members.”
Pen Underwriting
Michael King will join Pen from Canopius on 1 January 2021 as Head of Delegated Commercial, to succeed Seb Simmonds who has just been announced as Pen’s new Managing Director of Risk Managed Commercial. Currently Head of Commercial Underwriting at Canopius, Michael will bring more than 25 years’ underwriting expertise and leadership experience developed across his roles at UK composite insurers, Lloyd’s syndicates and global specialty (re)insurers.
Also joining Delegated Commercial is Fred Florry, who joins Pen today as Senior Underwriter. Most recently Commercial UK Underwriter at Canopius, Fred has amassed his decade of underwriting experience through his five years at Canopius and previous roles at QBE Europe and Brit Insurance.
Pen is also delighted to announce the internal promotion of Leo Downes to Head of Delegated Household.
Andrew Booth, MD of Delegated Solutions, said: “We are absolutely delighted that market-leading underwriters of the calibre of Michael and Fred have chosen to join Pen at this exciting juncture, having unveiled our ambitious agenda for growth. Both are highly experienced and well respected and we look forward to welcoming them into the team to drive forward our delegated commercial products and proposition. On the delegated household side, it’s fantastic to have Leo stepping up to take the helm and I know he will do an excellent job in taking the business from its existing £125m GWP to the next level.”
CDL
Insurance technology firm CDL has promoted Nigel Phillips (PICTURED) to the chief executive officer post, as its co-founder and chairman Tom Hogg steps down, and Gary Johnson moves from the CEO to chairman role.
Previously commercial director, Phillips had worked alongside Johnson as a member of the executive team throughout his seven-year tenure at the helm of CDL. CDL turnover increased from £27.5m in 2012 to £52.9m in 2019, with significant year-on-year growth to 2018.
Speaking about the changes, Johnson said: “Nigel has played an instrumental role in CDL’s expansion during this period and he has the trust of the Board to the lead the company going forward.
“His vision, proven track record and intimate knowledge of the business will ensure continuity of CDL’s strategy as we look to deliver our growth and innovation goals and to support our customers’ digital ambitions into the future.”
Phillips said: “It’s a huge privilege to have this opportunity to take CDL forward as we emerge from the recent turbulent period. Throughout, we have continued to invest extensively in our people, technology and infrastructure and we are confident that this will see us return to growth from 2021.”
Avid Insurance
Avid Insurance Services Limited has appointed Jon Terry (pictured) into a new role of FD. Terry started work on 28th September.
According to Stephen Gibson, Avid CEO, appointing a FD reflects the company’s aim to grow inorganically as well as organically.
“We hired Mike Patchett in August, giving us presence in equine, sport and leisure, and now Jon will help us bring added focus to our M&A, where we are keen to acquire businesses and underwriting teams to underpin our ambitious plans for growth.”
Avid, an MGA which is majority owned by Beech Tree Private Equity, is based in Leeds and London and specialises in social housing, council leasehold markets and travel.
He added: “Jon has extensive experience of M&A following a six-year role working alongside senior management teams and private investors at KPMG. I’m delighted to welcome him to Avid, where he will add considerably to the bench strength of our team.”
Jon Terry said: “Steve painted a compelling picture of the opportunity here at Avid, especially around inorganic growth, and I look forward to playing my part in helping the business to meet its strategic ambitions.”
“M&A is likely to be a sweet spot in the insurance sector as the industry evolves beyond the pandemic over the next 12-18 months, and Avid is well positioned to exploit those opportunities as they arise.”
MAPFRE
MAPFRE has agreed to the appointment of Javier San Basilio as Chief Underwriting Officer of MAPFRE RE. He replaces Miguel Ángel Rosa, who has recently been appointed CEO of Verti in Germany.
Javier San Basilio is currently the European regional director of MAPFRE RE, based in London, a position that will now go to Mark Meyerhoff, who was director of the MAPFRE RE office in Munich. Meyerhoff also joins the Management Committee at MAPFRE RE. These changes will be effective as of 1 January 2021.
YuLife
YuLife, has announced the appointment of Steve Harry as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Steve is an accomplished senior executive with over 20 years’ experience in the financial services sector. He will join YuLife’s leadership team to oversee the insurtech startup’s upscaling.
Steve joins YuLife after spending 7 years at Unum, one of the world’s leading providers of workplace financial protection benefits, where he was both CFO and COO. Most recently he led the Customer Services division of 400 people including broker services, claims, medical services, customer experience and corporate change management. Previously Steve held senior finance positions at both Aviva and L&G.
“I am excited to begin working with YuLife – one of the most creative companies in the British insurance market today,” said Steve Harry, CFO at YuLife, about his appointment. “YuLife has set itself the ambitious goal of making life insurance products accessible, engaging and rewarding to millions of people who would otherwise never have considered life coverage – and is succeeding in fundamentally changing how life insurance is perceived. It’s exciting to see how many businesses are embracing the power of YuLife’s app to encourage healthy behaviour as an important part of their group insurance and wellness programme.”
“I am delighted to welcome an experienced figurehead like Steve to the YuLife team and look forward to him playing a key role as we grow and develop as a company,” said Sammy Rubin, CEO and Founder, YuLife. “Steve is a strong business leader with a broad range of financial, operational and strategic management skills. He brings a valuable depth of experience in financial management at world leading companies in the insurance industry. ”
XENIA BROKING
Credit insurance and surety specialist Xenia Broking Group (‘Xenia’) announces the appointment of Simon Berry as Director of Client Service South.
Based in Xenia’s Sawbridgeworth office, Simon was previously Account Manager at Credit & Business Finance Ltd (CBF), the specialist trade credit broker that Xenia acquired in 2019. In his new role, Simon will lead Xenia’s client services team to continue proactively manage Xenia’s strong client relationships, exceeding expectations for service and delivery as the group continues its journey of successful growth.
Carpenters Group
Carpenters Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Andy Thornley, formerly of the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA), to the newly-formed role of Head of Public Affairs. In this new role, Andy will further strengthen the Group’s existing profile with the Ministry of Justice, policymakers and the media at a time of rapid change for the insurance and legal claims sector. Working closely across with the insurance sector as an associate member of the Association of British Industry (ABI) and the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), Andy’s appointment will further strengthen the Group’s profile in the sector.
At BIBA Andy was Head of Corporate Affairs with responsibility for government relations on behalf of the insurance broking sector. He has previously worked in the communications team for the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB), has been a writer/ journalist and a radio presenter. Most recently he produced a position paper for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) on Sustainable Finance which will be published this Autumn.
Donna Richards, CEO at Carpenters Group, said: “We’re very pleased to be welcoming Andy to the Carpenters team. As a leading provider of insurance and legal services working closely with all corners of the insurance sector, it is fantastic to be joined by someone with Andy’s experience and knowledge of the sector from his time with BIBA and MIB. Our services have once again expanded and diversified in 2020, with growing interest in our TPA proposition and also new customer growth from a retail banking partner. Our market offer is constantly evolving, most notably our White Labelled FNOL process which now handles calls for around 10% of the G.I. motor market.”
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