Ross Dingwall: Mission’s new chief executive on ‘turbocharging growth’

MGAs are one of the undisputed growth areas for the insurance sector.

In Insurance Times’ latest MGA market survey results, a vast majority (94%) of surveyed brokers said that these businesses now formed part of their placement strategies. 

And that popularity is reflected in the increasing number of MGAs in the market, with 2024 stats from the Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) stating that there were over 350 operating in the UK, responsible for managing around 10% of the UK’s £47bn general insurance premiums.

But, while the delegated authority underwriting model’s success continues to encourage entrepreneurial underwriters to start their own firms, the requirements of running a business can be onerous. 

This is exactly the problem that Mission Underwriters is aiming to solve. Mission launched in the US in 2021, before crossing the Atlantic into the UK and European markets in early 2022. 

Since then, the incubator-style firm has launched seven MGAs – and was acquired by Accelerant in May 2024.

Ross Dingwall, chief executive at Mission Underwriters, was appointed a year later in May 2025. Speaking to Insurance Times after five months in the role, he explains how the firm is now seeking to support the MGA market grow even further.

Initial priorities

After five months spent “getting used to the MGA market” – having spent the rest of his career in insurers and brokers, including as Hiscox’s distribution director and managing partner at Partners& – Dingwall has now completed one set of his initial priorities. 

New chief operating officer Gary Bright was appointed in August, with Dingwall describing himself as “delighted with the senior leadership team, which is right to take the business forward”. 

But, now that his feet are firmly planted under the desk as top boss, Dingwall has been set the challenge of “getting growth back into the business”. 

He explains: “One of the great things about that is the short term pipeline, because we’ve actually got four new MGAs in delivery at the moment, which will go live through to the beginning of next year.” 

One of these, Lumara Insurance, went live just last week (29 October) with support from Mission. 

”It’s a really nice challenge bringing those MGAs to market in such a short space of time, but then we need to build that pipeline too. We’ve got substantial growth plans for the business and are looking for it to be eight to 10 times bigger than it is today in 2030, across the UK and Europe.

”We have those MGAs in the pipeline at the moment, but I could easily see another three or four in the space of the next six months as well, based on the conversations that we’re having.” 

Business model

Mission Underwriters is not an MGA itself and does not underwrite any business. Instead, the firm owns its own stable of MGAs and is set up to provide support services directly to them, including regulatory management, marketing, IT platforms and other wrap around functions. 

While this may sound like the firm operates as an incubator for MGAs, Dingwall says that he doesn’t like the term, as “that suggests they’re going to fly the nest”.

He adds: ”It’s not an incubator, as we want to build businesses for the long term and always retain a majority shareholding.” 

Mission’s growth plan involves bringing MGAs to market that can grow and scale alongside it. The efficiency of providing services for those MGAs centrally, via Mission, is intended to support the MGAs to focus on “just two things, underwriting and distribution”.

Accelerant even provides long term capacity deals, generally around the five year length, for the stable of Mission MGAs, which removes that operational concern from the business. 

The benefits of synergy don’t end there either, as Mission MGAs benefit from shared broker access. 

Dingwall explains: ”We believe the power of collective MGAs is more important than an individual MGA and we bring that to life with brokers. With all the market consolidation, most brokers are looking to condense the number of markets they want to use. So, if you’re a smaller MGA, you’re at threat from being cut off from a broker’s approved panel. 

”Whereas, if you’re part of a broader stable, part of the Mission family, then you have more buying power and credibility with the brokers. Our MGAs all operate under the same terms of business agreements (Toba) too, so brokers don’t have create a new one every time.” 

Turbocharging growth

Utilising this model, as well as the advantages that it brings in terms of efficiency and talent attraction, Dingwall says he is now looking towards “turbocharging growth”. 

Much of this growth depends on effective marketing of the services Mission can provide to MGAs at the embryonic stage, as well as demonstrating that those services provide a real advantage. 

Part of the marketing challenge, Dingwall says, is being solved by emphasising that its stable of MGAs are “powered by Mission”.

He explains: ”We really want to build Mission’s brand in its own right, as we believe that’s a powerful approach – we’re a new brand, so not a lot of people know what Mission is. If we’re looking to to attract the top underwriting talent, then that will be vital.” 

In terms of demonstrating the success of its model, Dingwall points to examples of Mission MGAs that have scaled quickly. Retail estate MGA Ventis Underwriting, for example, is just over two years old and is approaching £20m in gross written premium.

But, despite ambitions to multiply the size of Mission by an order of magnitude, Dingwall emphasises that the business must not lose its ability to service MGAs properly as it grows. 

He finishes: “Remaining nimble as we grow is absolutely critical for us. We have to remain efficient and be able to deliver what we set out to because, ultimately, that’s what MGAs are there to do.

”Because of the way we structured the businesses, our core purpose as a centre is support our MGAs – we are not a profit centre in its own right, so all of our value as a business comes from support. 

“That’s the beauty of splitting off those support functions and setting really clear responsibilities, because we can hide that from the underwriters at the front end.”