It’s time for another round up of senior job moves;
APOLLO
Apollo, the independent specialist insurer and reinsurer, announces the addition of construction physical damage to its growing portfolio.
To lead this expansion, Tim Cook has joined the firm as head of construction, reporting to Kate Foster, the newly appointed divisional head of Apollo’s property team who joins in January 2023. Tim brings extensive experience in leading the strategic direction of successful construction and engineering business, having worked in the market for 37 years. He joins Apollo from Allianz Global Corporate & Speciality, where he was the North American Regional Head of Energy & Construction, most recently based in New York.
QLAIMS
Qlaims has appointed Simon Fenwick as Chief Operating Officer. Simon brings to Qlaims over 20 years’ experience in the UK general insurance market, joining from Hastings Direct where he successfully led insurer business development, system integrations and brought new insurer propositions to the intermediary market.
Qlaims provides loss recovery insurance to businesses and consumers via brokers, and through its subsidiary Qlaimstech, it offers complementary supporting services aimed at streamlining and improving customer experience when making a claim.
Simon is not the only recent appointment to the Qlaims team. During the summer Qlaims appointed Sarah Romain as Head of Claims Operations and Emma Milligan as Partnership and Success Manager.
ZURICH
Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) has appointed Penny Seach, (PICTURED) currently Chief Underwriting Officer EMEA, to the role of Group Chief Underwriting Officer, effective January 1, 2023. Ms. Seach will report to Sierra Signorelli, CEO Commercial Insurance. Hayley Robinson, who has held this role since June 2021, has decided to step down at the end of the year for family health reasons.
“Penny is a very experienced and capable successor for this important role, which is also a testament to our strong internal talent pool,” said Ms. Signorelli. “She has successfully led the EMEA underwriting business, strengthened the team and further advanced alignment with the Group’s strategy and governance. I am very confident that Penny will continue to successfully drive underwriting performance and ensure consistency across markets.”
Ms. Seach has more than 25 years of insurance experience with various multinational insurance companies. She joined Zurich in 2017 and has a strong track record of leading large diverse teams across geographies and disciplines.
Ms. Robinson will continue in her role through the end of the year, working alongside Ms. Seach to ensure a seamless transition.
LEGAL & GENERAL
Legal & General Retail, which looks after the savings, protection, mortgage and retirement needs of 12 million retail customers and workplace members, has restructured its executive team with a number of key appointments.
These changes form part of an ambitious growth strategy to deliver better outcomes for customers, advisers, distribution partners and shareholders.
The changes include:
- Lorna Shah takes on the role of Managing Director of Retail Retirement. Lorna has responsibility for Legal & General’s Retirement Income business, which will become ‘Retail Annuities’. She also has commercial oversight of the Workplace Savings and Personal Investing businesses alongside UK and international mortgage expansion.
- Katharine Photiou moves to the role of Managing Director of Retail’s Workplace Savings business. She will focus on developing and delivering the workplace and personal investing product and proposition, servicing the existing 4.7 million members and growing customer bases.
- Steve Davis has moved to be Chief Operating Officer of the Retail division. Steve will spearhead the introduction of a collaborative operational function across all of the Retail businesses to leverage best practices and enhance customer experience. His role also sees him responsible for driving the overall strategy of the Retail division and for increasing adoption of Agile ways of working.
- Paula Llewellyn, Chief Marketing Officer & Direct MD, in addition to managing the Direct Protection business and being CMO for Retail as a whole, takes responsibility for Legal & General Financial Advice, which offers advice on later life lending.
The establishment of Legal & General Retail earlier this year, with Bernie Hickman as its Chief Executive Officer, saw the provider’s retirement, savings, protection, mortgage services and Fintech businesses coming together, allowing the division to better serve its diverse range of retail customers, distribution partners, advisers, corporates and consumers.
CLOSE BROTHERS
Allen Seldon has been appointed Director of Product & Proposition for Close Brothers Premium Finance (CBPF).
He began his role at the beginning of October and reports to MD Finance Seán Kemple. Seldon explained that he will lead the development and delivery of value-based propositions for CBPF’s 1600 broking partners in both personal and commercial lines in the UK and Ireland.
Seldon is the latest in a string of senior hires to build the bench strength of the premium finance team, MD of Finance Seán Kemple said. “After the appointment of Colin Wallace earlier this year to oversee our personal lines division, our full strength team is hugely experienced, both in broking and on the supplier side, with a deep understanding of the broking market.”
He added: “Pitted alongside the launch of our two new powerful data insight products, in Foresight (a predictive tool for personal lines brokers) and Focus 360 (data analytics for commercial brokers), I believe we have a market leading ‘people plus technology’ broker proposition, supporting our partners to achieve their growth and revenue objectives.”
MODERN LIFE
Specialist engineering and technology insurer, HSB has appointed Ross Tyler and Sharon Evans as Business Development Managers.
Ross and Sharon will focus on implementing HSB’s sales strategies in all its distribution channels to support its corporate objectives and growth ambitions. The pair will be responsible for building and maintaining strong relationships with brokers, growing the engineering insurance and inspection business portfolios, overseeing renewal of existing key accounts, and negotiating new business opportunities.
Based primarily in East Anglia and the Home Counties, Ross joins HSB with over seven years’ experience in the insurance sector. Ross has worked across all commercial lines areas including property and casualty, fleet, construction and inspection.
Sharon joins HSB with over 30 years of experience in the insurance sector and will be based in Yorkshire and the North East. Sharon’s insurance career includes broking, underwriting and sales roles across brokers, MGAs and insurers.
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