ERS announces new personal lines and agriculture head

ERS has promoted Annie Ward to head of bespoke personal lines and agriculture.

Ward, who has worked at ERS since 2014, previously served as product manager for bespoke personal lines. 

In her new role, she will take responsibility for the underwriting strategy and performance of both books of business.

She will report directly to Scott Tillbrook, who was recently promoted from head of agriculture, commercial lines and bespoke personal lines to active underwriter.

Tillbrook said Ward’s promotion reflected her track record in driving “growth and profitability” in bespoke personal lines.

He explained: “Her focus on end-to-end underwriting, which consistently provides prestige quotes in under two hours, and the build out of a specialist prestige claims proposition has been instrumental in our success – delivering excellent underwriting results year-on-year.

“The addition of agriculture to her remit is a natural progression and I am confident that under her leadership, both portfolios will continue to thrive.”

Internal rise

Tillbrook added that the business prioritised internal progression where possible and that Ward’s appointment reflected ERS’ commitment to “recognising and empowering” its talent.

Regarding her promotion, Ward said: “I’m excited to add the agriculture class to my role. While our agriculture and prestige propositions might seem quite different, they are similar in many ways.

“Both are service led propositions, supported by expert broker facing teams, our latest, enriched, real-time pricing models and their own specialist claims teams.

“We are also making progress in enabling brokers to digitally trade the most specialist risks in both these classes, which will reduce our already enviable quote response times.”