People Moves: 14 – 17 February 2023

Featuring: GoShorty, Pen Underwriting, RSA and Rokstone.

GoShorty makes three key new hires

Motor insurance specialist GoShorty has hired Phil Evans as commercial director. He is the former managing director of Bollington Wilson Group personal lines business and it up until the sale to Arthur J. Gallagher.

Also joining the business are Graeme Stoker and Matt Wood.

Stoker joins as director of marketing and was previously chief marketing officer at insurtech business Honcho Markets.

Wood joins as director of data and pricing, having previously been director of insurance at another insurtech, Wrisk.

Andy Moody, GoShorty’s founder and managing director, said: “GoShorty has serious growth plans, and we are bringing on people across the business to achieve these. The arrival of Phil, Graeme and Matt significantly strengthens our team, and their experience and expertise puts us in a great position to execute our growth plan.

“In the two and a half years since our launch, we have been on an incredible journey and doubled in size. Attitudes to car ownership are changing rapidly and people want to be able to borrow vehicles and take out cover as and when suits them. GoShorty is on a mission to facilitate this, and we believe our proposition for car, van and learner drivers is far and away the best in the market.”

Pen Underwriting adds two business development managers

Pen Underwriting has added two business development managers to work with brokers across the Midlands.

Helen Barnes joined Pen this week as business development manager for the Midlands south. She most recently worked for HSB Engineering in the same region and brings more than a decade’s industry experience. She began her career at Zurich as a construction market underwriter.

Liz Abrahams has also joined as business development manager for the midlands north. She previously worked for Allianz where she was business developer and brings nearly a decade of industry experience. She began her career at Gallagher for five years before moving to Markel UK.

Both will report to Nick Hewland, national sales manager, who commented: “The Midlands continues to be an area with a strong broker base and great growth potential, so we are delighted to welcome Liz and Helen to the team to further increase our capabilities and dedicated broker support in the region.

“Given their proven strengths in building relationships with brokers, and the technical knowledge that comes from working within specialist underwriting and claims areas before making the transition to business development, both are fantastic additions to our UK-wide team.”

RSA bolsters UK speciality lines cyber underwriting team

RSA has hired Henry Westwood as senior specialist underwriter and Carol Nguyen as senior technology underwriter. 

Westwood will join the business on 15 May from CNA Hardy and will be responsible for leading the stand alone cyber underwriting practice in the UK.

Nguyen began a six-month secondment with the team in London on 15 February. She started her career at Liberty Mutual Canada in Toronto as an intermediate underwriting operations associate, commercial lines and construction.

Nigel Pearson, group cyber underwriting director at RSA said:  “The demand for cyber insurance continues to grow in response to an ever increasing frequency of ransomware and data breach incidents. New legislation is also being enacted that addresses cyber security and data privacy in many jurisdictions that will only increase the potential liabilities for organisations. Having a comprehensive product that addresses these issues is very much part of our specialty lines strategy.

“I’m therefore delighted to welcome both Henry and Carol to RSA. They’re both great additions and, alongside the team we already have, will support our growth ambitions in this space.”

Rokstone appoints head of D&O

Rokstone has appointed Jimmy Heaton as head of D&O. 

Heaton will lead the D&O team when he joins the business after serving his notice at Nexus Underwriting where he was managing director of management liability. He joins with more than a decade of D&O underwriting experience, beginning his career at Axa. 

Ian Anson, managing director of Rokstone, commented: “We’re delighted Jimmy has chosen to join Rokstone to establish and lead our D&O team. Complex SME and mid-market D&O remains relatively underserviced across the UK and EEA, and is often an area of frustration amongst placing brokers; these risks essentially fall through the gap between online systems and London Market corporate/subscription placements.

“It is challenging areas of niche specialty lines like these that are Rokstone’s sweet spot – it is what we excel at. We will give brokers a reliable and consistent underwriting partner and be their “go to” contact for these tricky but profitable D&O risks.”

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