Market Moves - 14 May 2015

Insurers

Ace
Ace has appointed Gabija Simmonds to the role of general counsel for Ace Australia and New Zealand. Simmonds has worked at several law firms and for the last seven years at Australian bank Westpac, where she was most recently head of legal, insurance.

Allianz
Nick Kelsall has joined Allianz as technical claims manager. Kelsall previously worked at NFU Mutual as a litigations manager and as a claimant lawyer at Irwin Mitchell. At Allianz, he will have primary responsibility for providing strategic technical guidance to the claims centres handling volume motor injury claims and will personally handle the most severe and catastrophic injury claims. In addition, he will manage the division’s legal panel, ensuring it is aligned to overall strategy.

Axa
Axa Commercial Lines and Personal Intermediary has finished compiling the senior management team for its branch operation with the appointment of Lisa Bartlett as regional director for the north. Bartlett, who has more than 20 years’ experience in broking and has held senior director roles at Towergate and Aon, will report to commercial lines managing director Jon Walker. She has worked at Towergate since June 2012 as divisional sales director within retail broking, having joined from Aon, where she was employed for the previous seven years. Before that she worked at Marsh, Alexander Forbes and Willis.

RSA
Simon Schofield has joined RSA as a risk engineering consultant within the global consulting division. Schofield has more than 17 years’ experience in the energy industry, working for generation companies and contractors in a number of design, build, commissioning, operational and maintenance roles. He has also held a number of management and international roles including long-term secondments to European combined-cycle gas turbine plants.


Brokers

Leisuredays
Static caravan, park home and holiday lodge insurance specialist, Leisuredays, has hired Simon Graham as its newest business development manager, where he will focus on clients across Scotland and Northern Ireland. Prior to joining Leisuredays, Graham worked in a managerial role at a home and motor insurance provider for more than 10 years.

Nelson Policies
Nelson Policies at Lloyd’s has hired Lee Preston as director of Nelson Sport and Leisure. He is joined by new senior underwriter Robbie Monk. The pair have combined experience of 28 years in the sport and leisure sector and will head up Nelson Sport and Leisure. Their remit will be to develop their existing portfolio of sport and leisure products into the intermediary market. Preston has spent the last 15 years at Towergate Sports & Leisure where he was underwriting manager and operations director. The pair can be contacted on 020 3058 2495/6   respectively.

Towergate
Towergate Insurance has hired Caroline Inglis and Ian Docherty into the Scotland broking region as the business looks to reinforce its local market leadership. Inglis joins as regional operations director for Scotland and Northern Ireland, having previously established an office in Glasgow for Liberty. Docherty joins from Central Insurance Brokers having previously worked for Willis.


Loss adjusters

Cunningham Lindsey
Former professional cricketer Nicholas Walker has joined Cunningham Lindsey as motor development director, where he will be responsible for expanding the company’s business within the motor fleet sector, as well as managing the repair network and exploring new product lines to complement the company’s existing services. Walker started his career as a professional cricketer, playing for Leicestershire and Derbyshire, before joining VMS Fleet Management. After three years with VMS, he was recruited by FMG in Huddersfield. He can be contacted at 07880 780066    and nicholas.walker@cl-uk.com


Legal services

Bond Dickinson
Law firm Bond Dickinson has appointed Sushma MacGeoch as a partner to join its insurance disputes team. She joins the firm’s London office from Kennedys. The appointment is an important step in the growth and development of Bond Dickinson’s insurance team, the firm said.