Another regional managing director to leave

Mike Lawton Towergate

Towergate is merging its Central and Midlands regions, reducing the number of regions in its broking division from six to five.

The newly combined region will be led by Joe Thelwell, the previous managing director of the Central region.

Towergate broking division chief executive Mike Lawton began considering the structure of the regions earlier this year when a management shake-up resulted in the exit of three Midlands bosses, including regional managing director Paul Watts.

The broker has since closed part of its Birmingham branch and made managing director Brian Kerry redundant. Director Jane Walker has also left and the broking operations are being moved to Warwick.

A staff consultation has been completed and redundancies are expected among the 12 staff affected. Towergate’s Riskline team will remain in the Birmingham office.

In a separate development, regional managing director for the North Neil Forrest will leave the company in April by mutual consent.

A Towergate spokesman said a replacement for Forrest will be appointed in due course.

Meanwhile, Towergate’s Bury St Edmunds branch will now report to Andy White, regional managing director for the South East.