A guide to this week's movements in the insurance industry

Broker

Smart & Cook
Smart & Cook Newcastle has appointed Don Gunning as an account executive.

Gunning joins from HSBC Insurance Brokers.

Heath Lambert
Heath Lambert's Southern public sector unit has appointed Alison Goodwin as an account executive.

Goodwin joins from Marsh.

Blyth Valley
Web-based intermediary Blyth Valley has appointed David Wright as a web programmer and Ellan Duncan to provide statistical analysis and management information in addition to an in-house IT helpdesk function.

CJ Coleman & Co
CJ Coleman & Co has appointed David Merry as chairman designate, subject to regulatory approval.

Merry was previously chief operating officer at Arthur J Gallagher.

The following have also joined CJ Coleman:

  • Gavin Burt as operations director. Burt was previously chief executive of House of Hill/Wincanton

  • Paul Rose as a senior broker responsible for US professional liability and financial institutions business

  • Matthew Glasgow as a broker handling US professional liability business.

    • Lucas Fettes
    Lucas Fettes has appointed Mark Brown as a director, based in Norwich.

    Brown will be responsible for company compliance.

    Oval
    Oval Insurance Broking has recruited three senior specialists to its corporate insurance team in North England:

  • Richard Brown from Aon as a major client manager

  • Jon Simpkin will drive Oval's expansion in the corporate sector. He has previously worked at Willis and Aon

  • Richard Towler also joins to expand Oval's corporate capacity. Towler worked most recently at Willis in Leeds and Sheffield as broking director.

    • Insurer

    Brit
    Brit has appointed Karen Vizard as international medical expenses underwriter within its London Market Underwriting Centre.

    Vizard joins Brit after 15 years at Cassidy Davis, where she was most recently senior class underwriter on the medical expenses team with Jubilee Syndicate.

    Brit has also appointed Karyn Williams to the underwriting centre as a US professional indemnity underwriter in its professional risks division.

    Williams joins after more than 10 years at AF Beazley Syndicate 623, where she was latterly senior underwriter of its US errors and omissions small business portfolio.

    XL Insurance
    XL Insurance has appointed a new team to guide growth of its global marine and offshore energy (M&OE) unit.

    Jeff Kaufmann has been appointed head of M&OE US operations in New York, while Colin Sprott will oversee M&OE international operations from London.

    Kaufmann first joined XL in 2000, and Sprott joined XL London Market in 1999 as deputy class underwriter for marine and energy liabilities.

    Hiscox
    Hiscox has appointed Ally Kemp as regional manager for Scotland and Ireland.

    Kemp, who will be based at Hiscox's Glasgow office, joins from Royal Bank of Scotland, where he headed up the SME insurance divisions for both RBS and NatWest.

    He replaces acting regional manager, Stuart Middleton, who has now become underwriting manager for UK North and Ireland.

    Steven Day has also joined Hiscox's Scotland team as underwriter, professions and specialty commercial.

    Day previously managed insurer relationships at National Australia Group.

    Hiscox has also promoted professions and speciality commercial underwriter Martin McBrearty to development underwriter, also based in Glasgow.

    Russell Heaton has also joined as technology, media and telecoms underwriter for Scotland and Ireland.

    Heaton was previously a broker at Marsh's Edinburgh FinPro division.

    Aegis
    Paul Guiry has joined Aegis London as finance director.

    Guiry joins from Alea, where he was a senior vice-president.

    Allianz Cornhill
    Allianz Cornhill Legal Protection has appointed Natasha Jenkins as a sales support officer in its business development team.

    Jenkins previously worked for Cornhill Direct as a senior customer service associate.

    Liberty
    Casualty underwriter Martino D'Aliesio has joined Liberty to head up Liberty International Underwriters' new office in Bristol. D'Aliesio joins from Brit.

    Amlin Plus
    Amlin's bloodstock and equine intermediary, Amlin Plus, has appointed former eventing world champion Lucinda Green as a non-executive board member.

    Other

    LCL
    LCL has appointed Andrew Crouchman to the new post of group reinsurance director.

    Crouchman joins from law firm Mills & Reeve.

    CTC
    Matthew Thomas has joined CTC Non-Marine Loss Adjusters as a senior consultant within its financial institution and commercial crime team.

    Thatcham
    Pierre Lefèvre, Groupama's chairman and chief executive, has replaced Allianz Cornhill's Andrew Torrance as chairman of Thatcham, the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre.

    Additionally, in February Thatcham board members Guy Munnoch (Zurich) and Jack Brownhill (Groupama) will leave. And Jon Dye of Allianz Cornhill, Nigel Fleet of Royal & SunAlliance, and Bill Paton of Zurich will join.

    Profile

    Chris Aston
    Chris Aston has been appointed as an account handler in the property and corporate risks department of Essex broker FMW.

    Aston, who has worked in the insurance industry for almost four years, joins FMW from commercial broker Boothby Taylor, where he was office manager.

    Prior to that he worked on Royal London's pension review team, and he has also previously worked at Equity Red Star as an underwriting technician.

    FMW's property team deals with a variety of commercial clients from property owners to precision engineers, catering for all of these clients' insurance needs.

    Aston, who is 26, said of working in the industry: "Insurance applies to everyone in some way, whether it's personal or commercial. The industry has interesting, diverse and interchangeable job roles."

    Aston lives in Colchester. In his spare time he enjoys socialising, going to the gym and playing computer games.

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