Job Moves and Senior Appointments Round-Up 03.06.2024

In this newly created role, Ms Tewes is responsible for the design and delivery of risk control programs across Sompo’s property and casualty offerings with oversight of the Risk Control team located throughout CE. She will be based in Cologne, Germany, and reports into Ralph Brand, President, Continental Europe, Insurance.

VRA

Tom Harvey, Organisation Development Manager at Silverlake Automotive Recycling [Silverlake] has joined the VRA Management Committee.  The VRA is the leading trade body for UK vehicle recycling professionals.  Management Committee members have responsibility for directing the activity of the organisation, ensuring it is well run and delivering the outcomes for which it has been set up.

The VRA provides a central source of advice and guidance to members, promoting their businesses and representing their interests to members of Government, regulators and other industry sectors.  The trade body encourages professionalism in order to give consumers confidence in the products and services offered by its members and to protect the environment.  Silverlake is one of the longest standing members of the VRA and professional standards sit at the heart of the business.

LOCKTON

Lockton Companies has announced the appointment of Johan Lindvall as CEO of Lockton Sweden AB, joining in due course. William L’Orange will continue to serve as CEO of Lockton Sweden AB until Johan’s arrival.

Bringing over 20 years of experience to the role, Lindvall joins from Willis Towers Watson Sweden, where he has served as CEO. Lindvall also managed Willis Towers Watson’s ‘Affinity’ insurance tech operation in Northern Europe since 2013. Prior to this, he held roles at Aon and Norwegian insurance firm Protector Forsikring.

This appointment represents a key milestone of Lockton’s growth strategy in the Nordics, and particularly Sweden, the largest economy in the region. It follows the opening of the Stockholm office in January 2023, and a series of strategic hires; namely Senior Vice Presidents Johan Frithioff and Linda Fihlen, as well as Vice President Niklas Thorell, who all joined from Howden. The team is further strengthened by Nordic insurance and risk management expert Christer Witeus.

LOGPOINT

 Logpoint has announced that Mikkel Drucker has been appointed new Chief Executive Officer at Logpoint. The nomination of Drucker marks the next stage in Logpoint’s journey to becoming a European cybersecurity powerhouse, providing regional access to outcome-driven security operations and compliance technologies.

Drucker is an international technology executive with a strong focus on commercial excellence and a proven track record of successfully scaling SaaS and scale-up companies and driving profitable growth. Drucker joins Logpoint after three years as CEO at Netigate, where he sold the company to a Private Equity fund and drove its healthy growth performance, reshaping the product into an innovative technology platform organically and through acquisition.

DESCARTES

Descartes Underwriting, the Paris-based MGA focused on parametric insurance solutions, has appointed Matthew James as its new Commercial Director – UK & Ireland. Matthew will lead development in London of Descartes’ new generation of parametric insurances that build resilience against natural risks.

Matthew joins Descartes after ten years with WTW, where he specialized in structuring novel parametric solutions designed to manage the weather-risk exposures of clients across various sectors. He also served a stint as Head of Business Development in London for OTT Risk, the parametric MGA. Matthew takes over from Paul Jones, who is leaving Descartes after nearly three years to pursue other opportunities.

PEN UNDERWRITING

Pen Underwriting’s marine war risk insurance specialist, Vessel Protect, has continued its investment in service capabilities and market expertise for the benefit of shipowner clients with the appointment of James Kent. James will join as Senior Business Development Underwriter on Monday 3 June.

Bringing more than 20 years’ marine insurance expertise, James joins from broker Lockton Omni where he was Business Development Manager for the past five years. Prior to this, he developed 15 years of underwriting experience to senior underwriter level – working for Thomas Miller Specialty, Navigators Insurance Company, Lodestar Marine and British Marine – and began his career with a grounding in marine liability claims at Steamship Mutual P&I (Protection & Indemnity) Club.

MCLARENS

Global claims services provider McLarens has promoted Jon Clark to Chief Operating Officer (COO). The new role will see Jon join McLarens’ C-suite, as the business continues to expand the scope and scale of its specialist claims services across the globe.

As COO, Jon will oversee the enhancement of existing and development of new practice areas within McLarens, alongside assuming responsibility for investment strategy, and new product development. He will also be partnering with regional leaders and the other C-suite leaders, to improve global partnerships and scalability of business across the group. He will report directly to Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gary Brown and continue to serve as an integral member of the Global Management Team (GMT).

Jon has been instrumental in McLarens’ evolution from global loss adjusting firm to a multi-disciplinary, claims services provider focussed on complex, commercial and specialty insurance markets. Prior to his appointment as COO, Jon served as McLarens’ Vice President of Corporate Development. He joined McLarens in April 2020, first establishing, and then leading its Corporate Development team. In the four years since, Jon has successfully delivered several growth initiatives, including the establishment, integration, and development of McLarens’ forensic and technical services offering globally, with subsidiaries spanning engineering, forensic science and investigation, and building consultancy. His team has led the completion of 13 successful M&A transactions.

WENALYZE

Mandy Hunt, Chairperson of the CII’s Underwriting Community Board, Managing Director – MGAs at The Clear Group, and former Chief Underwriting Officer – Commercial at RSA, has joined the Wenalyze team as an expert advisor.

Over more than 25 years in the general insurance sector, Mandy has proven her versatility, and excelled as a professional who delivers superior results. Her extensive experience in senior underwriting management roles, alongside her in-depth market knowledge, are an enormous asset to Wenalyze, and will benefit clients directly. Mandy will bolster the firm’s core commitment to deliver high-value, responsive data quality and processing tools to commercial insurers.

BLENHEIM UNDERWRITING

Blenheim Underwriting is pleased to announce the appointment of David Barber as a senior liability treaty underwriter on Syndicate 5886. Barber is well known and respected in the market and is aiming to build a portfolio of niche liability classes, written via long-standing delegated authority/ reinsurance relationships. His arrival marks a new chapter in the development of Syndicate 5886, as Barber’s book of business becomes another significant pillar of the syndicate’s portfolio.

Barber joins from Fortegra where he has been for the past four years, and prior to that spent 25 years at Chaucer where he was head of the liability division.

Barber’s portfolio comprises MGA/MGU/delegated authority business in the US, UK and Europe, 65% of which is lead business and has outperformed market results for the original binder classes. The classes of business written will include US E&O, medical malpractice (allied health and life sciences), financial institutions and general liability.

ACADEMY INSURANCE

Academy Insurance, the purpose-led broking consolidator, has appointed Nick Mountifield Group Chief Operating Officer. Mountifield joins the business from PIB, and replaces Richard Beaven, who is promoted into a new position of Group Managing Director, a role created for him. Both will report to Group CEO Gilles Normand.

The appointments come following Academy’s recent acquisition of Premierline, and mark the next phase in Academy’s plans to build a highly experienced senior management team that can oversee the transformation of the business into a broking powerhouse, according to
Gilles Normand. He said:

“Academy is not merely an EBIT sausage machine; we believe that organic growth and the welfare of our people are critical success factors for our business and we intend to combine our acquisition strategy with organic growth, focusing primarily on building our
commercial SME book.”

HOLTARA 

Leading ESG business, Holtara, has appointed Yovanka Bylander Arroyo as its new Global Chief commercial Officer and Head of Americas. Based in New York, Yovanka will drive Holtara’s global growth and client success strategies, including expansion into new client segments and geographies. In her role as Head of Americas, Yovanka will specifically focus on growth and client success for that region.

The appointment marks yet another milestone reached since Holtara launched earlier this year, leading the industry in ESG solutions. It already supports over 400 GPs and LPs worldwide companies through a combination of people and platform powered solutions.

BROWN AND BROWN

Brown & Brown (Europe) Ltd (Brown & Brown) has appointed Carolyn Callan to the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for their UK Retail sector. Carolyn previously held the role of Managing Director, having joined Brown & Brown in November 2023.

Mike Bruce, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brown & Brown (Europe), commented, “Since joining us last November, Carolyn has made a strong impact and is clearly the right person to lead us through our next phase of growth. Carolyn’s strategic leadership will help ensure we
continue to deliver for our customers and create an environment of growth for our Retail teammates.”

Additionally, Stuart Grieb will assume the newly created position of Chief Commercial Officer for the UK Retail business. He will continue in his Southern region leadership role but begin working with the wider Retail leadership team to help optimise financial performance across the Retail sector.

PREMIER CHOICE

Premier Choice Healthcare (PCH), the health insurance intermediary owned by Brown & Brown (Europe) Ltd (Brown & Brown), has appointed Darren Perkins to the role of Managing Director.

Premier Choice Healthcare recently held its Annual Sales Conference at Whittlebury Park in Northamptonshire with over 150 attendees.
The conference was opened with a video from Powell Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Brown & Brown Insurance, congratulating the whole team on a fantastic 2023 and wishing them all the best with the business’s continued growth plans.

Premier Choice Healthcare was then delighted to announce that Darren Perkins was being promoted to Managing Director, leading the business through the next stages of its strategic growth.

GATELEY SMITHERS PURSLOW

Professional services group, Gateley, has announced 21 promotions across its specialist property and construction consultancy teams: Gateley Smithers Purslow (GSP), Gateley Vinden and Gateley Hamer.