Going Places

Going Places

Benfield Benfield has appointed Chris Cook to its aviation insurance team, where he will focus on major aviation risks. Cook has more than 30 years' experience in the aviation market and was most recently a managing director of Marsh Aviation. He previously led Johnson and Higgins' London aviation practice.

RFIB GroupRFIB Group, a Lloyd's broker, has appointed Stephen Hirst as director of RFIB Marine, with immediate effect.Adrian Tanner, currently managing director of RFIB Marine, retires later in the year and on 1 August 2004 Hirst will take over from Tanner as managing director. He will also join the group board.Tanner was a founding director of RFIB and has been in the marine market for 40 years. Hirst began his career at Price Forbes in the marine department. He was also deputy chairman in Willis's marine division.

Oval Oval has appointed Richard Wigmore to the position of director, personal accident and travel division, based at its London office. Wigmore's responsibilities will include the creation of a specialist team to streamline the placement of Oval's business. He will also continue to service and expand his existing wholesale account, which he has been handling on behalf of UK brokers for the past 17 years. Wigmore joins Oval from Ermasure, where he set up, developed and ran the personal accident and travel division. Prior to joining Ermasure, he was group development director of Stafford Knight & Co.

Lancaster Insurance ServicesDan Francis will join classic car broker Lancaster Insurance Services as business development director at the end of June.Francis is currently business development director at insurE-com, with responsibility for developing the firm's insurer relations. The move co-incides with Lancaster's move to add insurE-com's E-quote product to its website.

SMg Risk SolutionsWest Yorkshire-based broker SMg Risk Solutions has appointed Mike Cowburn as branch director at its Ilkley office.Cowburn founded Cowburn Insurance Brokers and is already a board director with SMg. He will now also have direct responsibility for the running of SMg Ilkley as part of his new role. He has 24 years' industry experience and previously worked as an account executive with the Guardian Royal Exchange Group, before setting up Cowburns.Cowburns, which was last year acquired by the Folgate Partnership as part of the SMg portfolio, was managed by Mike Cowburn until it merged in April 2003.

FMW Chelmsford-based broker FMW has appointed Duncan Cramphorn as account executive for the North.Cramphorn has worked for FMW since July 2002, when he joined the Chelmsford office as account handler. In his new role, he will be based in Kendal, Cumbria, specialising in mid-range corporate businesses.

Ace European GroupAce European Group has promoted Ian Fox to the newly-created role of regional development manager, North.Fox has been business development manager for Ace's Manchester branch for two years. In his new position he will be responsible for generating stronger and more effective relationships with Ace's key brokers at a regional level, in addition to providing increased support to the business development team.

Novae UnderwritingStuart Quinlan has been appointed as underwriting development director, with responsibility for regional and London market business, at Novae Underwriting. In addition, Dominick Rogers and Gail Cook have been recruited to develop Scotland and the Southern Region respectively. The trio formerly worked for Royal & SunAlliance's ProFin division.The new team at Novae will provide underwriting and support services to regional brokers marketing professional indemnity, directors' & officers', medical malpractice and general liability business, concentrating on the UK SME and mid-commercial market.

Canopius Managing AgentsCanopius Managing Agents has appointed Michael Manning as divisional North American property underwriter.Manning will join Canopius having worked for more than 35 years in the Lloyd's market. He is currently director of underwriting at Gerling of Lloyd's. He is also the active underwriter for Syndicate 1206.

InsurE-comChris Mosely has joined insurE-com's insurer relationships team as business development manager. Mosely has joined from Folgate, where he was director of its Masterplan proposition.

DLADLA's insurance group has expanded its disease unit with the appointment of solicitor Simon Matthews.Matthews has practised in defendant personal injury litigation for more than ten years, predominantly in disease work. He is a specialist in VWF, rhinitis, dermatitis and asthma claims.

Lorega Claims and underwriting services specialist Lorega has appointed Nicholas Kontopoulos as business development manager for its Southern region. Kontopoulos will have responsibility for growing Lorega's broker business across the South. He joins Lorega after four years with Abbey Legal Protection, where he was a business development manager based in London. He was responsible for key account management and development. Previously, he worked for QBE Insurance in Sydney. He was responsible for marketing and promoting the company's services as well as broker training, product development and key account management.

KPMGAmmy Seth has joined KPMG's financial services practice to lead the firm's enterprise-wide risk management services. Seth was previously head of group operational risk at HBOS, and has more than 25 years' experience in the financial services industry. He has worked at firms including BZW, Chase Manhattan Bank and Citibank.

Focus Insurance RecruitmentMandy Cox has joined Focus Insurance Recruitment, a specialist in Insurance and financial services recruitment, as key account director.Cox will lead Focus's expansion programme.

ServiceMaster CleanSteve Sinclaire has been appointed operations director for disaster restoration firm ServiceMaster Clean.Sinclaire joined ServiceMaster as a licensee in 1980 and came to head office in 1991. Most recently he has been operations director of the National Furniture Medic network.

Guardian HoldingsGuardian Holdings has appointed Arthur Lok Jack as chairman.Lok Jack was previously deputy chairman of the Guardian Holdings board, which he joined in 1997. He is also chairman of Guardian Life of the Caribbean, Guardian General and Guardian Life in Jamaica and Fatum Holding V. in the Netherland Antilles. Lok Jack replaces former Guardian Holdings chairman Nazir Ahamad, who died last month.

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