Insurance Times rounds up the most significant appointments, hires and leadership developments from 6 to 10 April 2026
There has been some big movements in the market following the Easter bank holiday, including Markel’s appointment of Lee Dainty as the new chief operations officer for its UK business.
Dainty has joined the insurer from Intact, where he served as vice president for commercial claims for the past seven years.
Then, McLarens exclusively revealed to Insurance Times that the firm had named Louise Butcher as its new Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) executive director.
This was accompanied by further moves, as McLarens also promoted Mark Farrant as the new head of UK commercial property and Chris Pettet to the position of UK head of niche lines.
Insurtech appointments also broke into the biggest moves roster this week, as Genasys appointed Hugh Hessing and Gavin Routledge as non-executive directors.
Hessing spent 14 years at Aviva in several senior executive roles, including UK claims director and chief executive for Ireland, while Routledge is a former board member at Genasys and currently serves as chairman at Clientele.
Next up is Axa Insurance UK appointing Martin Milliner as chief claims transformation officer.
Milliner’s position is a newly created role in Jon Walker’s executive committee.
Most recently, he held the position of managing director of claims at Direct Line Group (DLG), where he led the Motability partnership, DLG Legal Services and DL Auto Services.
Finally, Lloyd’s managing agent Asta announced six promotions designed to “expand the capability and bandwidth of the executive and wider senior leadership team”.
These promotions include Dave Hopkins as the managing agency’s new chief underwriting officer and Clare Barely as managing director.
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