She was chief exec of Aston Scott for 24 years 

Mactavish has appointed Heidi Carslaw as its new managing director.

Carslaw previously worked at Aston Lark Group as its executive director for over a year and a half.

Before this she worked as chief executive of predecessor firm Aston Scott for over 24 years prior to the broker joining forces with Lark in 2017 to become Aston Lark.

Carslaw brings over 30 years of experience to her new position; she has expertise in dealing with a range of complex risks, as well as leadership experience.

Welcoming Carslaw to the team, Mactavish’s chief executive Bruce Hepburn said: “Her experience and passion for really understanding clients would be tremendous assets for any firm in the industry and I’m very pleased that she has chosen to join us.

”We’ve seen tremendous growth in demand for our services and Carslaw will help us to continue that trend in the months ahead.”

Clear mission

Carslaw has already begun working with Mactavish having started as a sales director in September and, in October, she took on the role of managing director.

Speaking of her excitement in joining the Mactavish team, she said that she is “looking forward to hitting the ground running as we navigate the most challenging insurance market in decades”.

Carslaw continued: “The firm has a clear mission to create a fairer and more transparent market for policyholders – something I have pursued throughout my career. I firmly believe that clients benefit when they have good relationships with their brokers and insurers as well as access to best in class independent technical advice.

“The team at Mactavish have a unique set of skills that they use to open new avenues to risk transfer. This combination of innovation and total client focus has a proven track record of improving the quality of cover and driving better cost outcomes.”

Hepburn added: “More and more often, policyholders are seeing the need for a new type of adviser that is both truly independent and has the technical skills that many insurers and brokers no longer invest in.

“As insurance costs rocket and the ongoing Covid-19 business interruption scandal demonstrates, traditional routes to placement are no longer sufficient if policyholders want to get a fair outcome from either placement or claims disputes.”