Smith promoted to MD of LV='s direct business

LV= General Insurance has today announced that it has promoted Heather Smith to managing director of the direct business.

It comes after Selwyn Fernandes announced he was leaving the company after 12 years.

In her new role, Heather will be responsible for creating and delivering the direct business strategy and growing the business portfolio while also continuing to lead the marketing and digital teams.

Heather joined LV= in August 2016 as digital transformation director after working at Aviva for over 20 years where she held a number of roles, such as director of UK direct insurance and marketing director for Aviva Direct.

Commenting on her appointment, Steve Treloar, chief executive of LV= General Insurance said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have appointed Heather to this role. She has extensive experience of the market and its opportunities and in bringing together marketing, digital and direct, it will give us the opportunity to efficiently drive digital change through the business.

”I’m very sorry to see Selwyn go but after 12 very successful years at the company, he leaves a fantastic legacy with a strong business primed for further success. We wish him all the best for the future.”

Smith added: “I’m very happy to be taking on this new role at what is an exciting time for our General Insurance business.

”We recently launched our new multi-car product which has proven to be a real success, we’re currently working on a number of new digital initiatives which will change the way our customers interact with us and our brand is going from strength to strength. In bringing all this together under the one team, our customers should notice a real difference in our products and services and I’m looking forward to building on the success of the last 12 years.”

Heather will take on her new responsibilities from 2 July 2018.