Disagreements with chairman Harvey led to departure of chief exec

Former Lorega chief executive John Sims hopes to return to the market within three months following his surprise departure from the claims consultant, announced last week.

Sims, who made his name as European personal lines manager at Chubb Insurance, said he was “keeping a totally open mind” about his next role. He added that he would be undertaking some consultancy work related to high and mid net worth insurance in the immediate future.

Sims said he had decided to leave Lorega because of diagreements over the company’s direction with chairman Malcolm Harvey.

He said: “It is a genuine situation where the chairman Malcolm Harvey and myself are very, very different people, and that was always going to be a challenge when I joined. I come from a background of large corporates and Malcolm’s run his own business for 25 years, and ultimately we just didn’t agree on the way forward for the business. If you’re working in a company of 17 people, the relationship has got to be absolutely right.”

He said he had no regrets about joining Lorega two and a half years ago. “I’m leaving on good terms and it’s all very amicable – I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved,” he added.

Sims’ operational responsibilities will be assumed by Neill Johnstone, who has also been appointed as group managing director, and other members of the Lorega senior management team.