Board Chair For Major UK Insurer

A subsidiary of a major global finance and insurance corporation, our client is a prestigious UK multiple-line, general insurer offering predominantly commercial and personal lines insurance. The company prides itself on delivering innovative products and value propositions, as well as a positive employee experience and sustained top-quartile returns. Its vision is to become the leading specialist insurer in the UK market.

The key challenges included the client’s desire to fill the role within three months, and the regulatory and parental high expectations of the candidate. In addition, some high-calibre non-executives, looking for ‘top table’ positions, were likely to eliminate themselves from a role on a subsidiary board. The process also included an incumbent non-executive, which set a high bar.

• Our initial research worked exhaustively through candidate pools in the insurance market and related financial services areas to identify high-quality, relevant talent.
• We identified more than 200 individuals, scrutinising and assessing them all to select the top candidates for client review.
• Following this research, we presented the initial longlist of 12 candidates for discussion. The longlist featured short biographies on each candidate, including third-party validations.
• Five candidates were selected for interview. Interviews were completed within 61 days and the client chose the new chair.
• Circumstances meant the selected candidate was confirmed some months later, but we kept them engaged and informed during the intervening period.

• The longlist was exclusively made up of highly experienced insurance company board non-executives, 50% of whom had held chair positions.
• The longlist also comprised an equal number of male and female candidates.
• The chosen candidate had an executive insurance career, including CEO roles, and a non-executive career encompassing chair roles within financial services, including banking.

The campaign was highly successful, identifying a dozen first-class non-executives from which the client chose five to interview. Three of these were considered suitable for the role. The search and interview processes took place within the tight timescale and led to the client appointing a highly regarded chair. Following the formal appointment, the new chair swiftly achieved regulatory approval.