The Shortlist – A Personal Perspective, from Simon Beale

This month in The Shortlist, our series of interviews with Damhurst team members, we meet director Simon Beale. Simon leads Damhurst’s Board Services Practice, bringing decades of experience across the global insurance market to advise clients on developing high performing boards.

Simon spoke to us about the market changes he has witnessed over the course of his career, his transition from sitting on boards to advising them, and his motivation for a 350 mile walk around the coast of Cornwall, which shaped his next chapter.

Specialty insurance flows through my veins. My first job in the market was with a marine syndicate in 1984, and I’ve never really left.

I became CUO at Amlin in 2012 and CEO six years later. I sat on the Lloyd’s Council for eight years serving four as Deputy Chair. I sit on the board of the UK P&I Club and I’m the immediate past Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, a city livery company.

The first decade of my career was challenging. It coincided with the most difficult period in Lloyd’s history – the US asbestos crisis and the Reconstruction and Renewal plan. The first two syndicates I worked for ultimately went into run off.

I spent 25 years at MS Amlin. Starting as a hull underwriter, then running the marine portfolio, the London portfolio and then ultimately the whole group. When I retired as CEO in 2019 we managed a portfolio of £3.5 billion, employing 3,000 people across offices worldwide.

I had 18 months out after retiring. I travelled a little, and then Covid hit. All four of our children came home – a silver lining in a very difficult time.

At 58, I still had the energy to do something meaningful. I had plenty of commitments – chair of governors at a school, a Shipwrights board role, on the Board of the Alzheimer’s Society’s Insurance United Against Dementia (IUAD) and a non-executive directorship – but not quite enough. My daughter-in-law suggested I take on a challenge to raise money for charity.

Walking around the entire coast of Cornwall gave me time to think. It took me 18 days in total to walk the 350 miles and I raised £62,000 for the Alzheimer’s Society, a charity close to my heart. The planning, training and solitude helped me work out what I wanted to do next.

I realised I wanted to get my hands dirty again. I spoke to a number of headhunters including James [Cooper, Damhurst’s founder], who asked me what I’d like to do in an ideal world. I said I’d like to help a young CEO who was looking for someone with grey hair to offer some experience and strategic support. He invited me to come and run Damhurst’s Board Services Practice.

I’ve set out to do three key things at Damhurst. Firstly, there’s a 20-year age gap between James and me, so I open the doors to my network. Secondly, I lead the Board Services Practice. Finally, and most importantly, I support James with strategy and business direction.

Taking time out made it easier to move into an advisory role. I had 18 months to assimilate my executive experiences. As you move up through an organisation you naturally spend much of your time advising, coaching and helping to shape strategy. Advisory is therefore a natural extension.

It’s hugely rewarding to see what a difference we make. Helping people navigate challenges, some of which I have experienced myself. Although I don’t have ultimate accountability, I’m fully invested in the outcomes. There is a real sense of pride when our advice is enacted upon and delivers value.

The culture at Damhurst is incredibly supportive. James fosters an open and transparent culture, everyone feels able to share their concerns and opportunities and we’re all there to support each other.

Specialty insurance will always need people. People are at the heart of the market. Automated solutions don’t work for complex construction risks or fleets of aircraft – such risks are highly individual and require bespoke judgement and solutions.

Computerisation has been the biggest change I’ve seen in the market. In 1985, six of us shared a single computer, within a decade I was taking a laptop home at weekends. But digitisation hasn’t been quite as rapid as people expected – in 1984 the then chairman of Lloyd’s, Sir Peter Miller, predicted a paperless society within two years. We are still not there.

Two events stand out during my career. The Piper Alpha disaster in 1988 and the attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001. The insurance market often takes time to react to events – it isn’t the stock market – but I can tell you exactly where I was for both those and the impact on the market was immediate and profound.

Outside of work, I love being outdoors. Whether that’s in the garden, walking in the Cotswold countryside or on the Cornish coast, and spending time with my wife and our four children – and growing number of grandchildren. I am fortunate to have reached a stage where life feels well balanced and Damhurst is very much part of that equilibrium. I’m not building a career anymore – I’ve done that. This is about helping people.