Five things you didn't know about...

Jack of all trades...

I’ve worked in insurance for more years than I want to admit - I even became a chartered insurer. I’ve been a broker and a bank manager, before finally bringing all these skills to Confused.com as commercial director. I now manage 85 motor partners, 65 Home, 36 Travel, and 17 bike. That’s a lot of lunches. Despite working in an arena that focuses on cutting edge technology, I’m very much an advocate of people first, technology second.

Family first...

I’ve been a single parent for 10 years, which is the hardest job I’ve ever done but also the most rewarding. Keeping a full time job down as well as being a full time father was tough, but both my children have survived and one of them is currently doing a Masters at Cambridge; a job well done or a triumph of nature over nurture? Whatever the reason I feel very lucky and they make me very proud.

Village life...

My perfect day would involve driving my old Morgan around the Dorset countryside, stopping for a cheeky pint at the ‘Square and Compass’ at Worth Matravers – an interesting place to say the least, where you get only French mobile phone signals. The Village sign has been adapted to suggest it is ‘twinned with Royston Vasey’ so I guess you can make your own assumptions based on that.

Sailing ambitions...

I would love to sail around the world. Not in any racing capacity - I’ve no grand designs on becoming the next Ellen Macarthur - just the easy downwind cruising of the Trade Wind route. The most I’ve managed so far is three days in the Atlantic from Portugal to Madeira, although I did see the fabled tropical ‘green flash’ at sunset a few months ago. It’s definitely a work in progress.

Too old to die young...

I have been known to throw myself off high surfaces. I was once the proud owner of a second-hand, homemade, hang glider that appeared to be constructed of scaffolding poles and had the aerodynamic qualities of concrete. I have also been tandem parapenting in the Alps; mild mannered commercial manager in the week, daredevil on the weekend!

Peter Ablett is commercial director at Confused.com, which won the E-Business Award at the 2008 Insurance Times Awards.