Agenda

Claire has worked in insurance for over 30 years, starting her career with Cornhill before moving to Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty where she undertook a mixture of underwriting and operations leadership roles, both on a local basis in UK and France and in more recent years in Global roles as Global Head of Operations and Global Practice Leader, Allianz Multinational. She joined HDI Global SE in March 2019 as Managing Director for UK and Ireland.

Claire is a liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Insurers, Chair or iWin, Ambassador for ISC and an advocate for diversity and inclusion in all forms.

Leon is a Senior Director at AdvantageGo responsible for sales strategy and execution in the UK & London Market. Prior joining the business, he worked at the Corporation of Lloyd’s, two of the Top 5 Global Insurance Brokers, and led the sales function within a high growth SAAS business.

In addition to working for a large insurtech business Leon is a prominent speaker on Diversity & Inclusion, career development and leadership. A mentor to politicians, c-suite executives, and emerging talents. He sits on the Board of Inclusion@Lloyd’s, is Deputy Chair of Governors at Manorfield Primary School, Director at the Global Equality Collective for Business and, has been recognised in the Yahoo Finance - Ethnic Minority Future Leaders List.

Nick is the chief underwriting officer of Markel International with responsibility for underwriting profitability, oversight, and risk. Prior to this role, Nick was director of underwriting for three years and also chief actuary for 18 years, during which time he built the Markel International actuarial team with responsibilities for reserving, pricing, capital modelling, and catastrophe management.

Nick is also head sponsor for Markel International’s Diversity and Inclusion pillar, which forms part of the company’s Style in Action Framework, and he sits on Markel’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee. In these roles, Nick is helping to set the strategic direction for Markel’s diversity and inclusion efforts, which includes defining Markel’s D&I goals and policies, communicating Markel’s D&I vision, sponsoring employee resource groups, and equipping leaders and people to champion Markel’s D&I initiatives.

Sue is an experienced non-executive director and her career spans the retail, consulting and financial services sectors including over 20 years in the insurance industry.

She is non-executive chair of Gallagher UK, the lead non-executive director for the Home Office, the senior independent director for UKAR (Northern Rock Asset Management and Bradford & Bingley), and a trustee for Macmillan Cancer.  She is also the Alderwoman for the City of London Aldgate Ward, having been voted in as the ward’s first female Alderman in July 2018.

Previous roles include director of market operations for Lloyd’s of London, chairman of Lloyd’s Japan and director of Lloyd’s Asia, chief operating officer and board director for Hiscox Group, a principal consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and CEO of the Department of Trade and Industry Financial and Professional Services.

She is additionally a founding member of the Government’s Women’s Business Council and part of the livery of the Worshipful Company of Insurers, a vice president of the Insurance Institute of London (IIL) - receiving the IIL President’s Award - and was a participant on the BBC Expert Women initiative.

She is a past recipient of the FS Women in the City Achievement Award, Women to Watch, Leading Women in Reinsurance, top 20 inspirational City Women and in 2015 received an OBE for services to women in business.

Richard started his career as a graduate trainee and spent nearly 20 years at Zurich. He held a variety of roles including leadership of the Personal Lines Broker and SME businesses, and was latterly MD of Zurich’s UK Commercial Broker business.  Following 2 years as European Director at Collinson he joined as MD of Ecclesiastical UK in 2020. On a personal note, Richard lives in West Sussex, is a father of two, and enjoys travel, running, skiing and golf. 

Sara Fardon is the Managing Director of Willis Towers Watson Networks, a position she has held since 2011. Sara has had a distinguished career in insurance working within household names, before joining Willis Towers Watson. Sara then took the helm at their Network division as it was starting out and has guided it to deliver over £400 million GWP into the markets.

Sara invests in the future: she ensured Networks was the first Network to achieve Chartered Status and proudly continue to hold this recognition. As Network celebrated 20 years of delivering to its Network Members, Sara has embraced the digital future pushing Networks to the forefront of this opportunity.

She is keen to ensure her Network delivers solutions for the independent insurance broker of tomorrow and deploys the resources of Willis Towers Watson to back her Network.

In addition to her all-encompassing role within the Network Sara is a member of the BIBA Networks and MGA Advisory committee, and a very active member of the Worshipful Company of Insurers.

Away from work Sara is a very active volunteer in her local community and relaxes at her allotment turning new season produce into delicious dishes.

During his long and successful insurance career to date, John has gained insight into the insurance market from numerous perspectives, having worked for Insurers, as a Broker and now for Willis Towers Watson Network. John graduated from Warwick University before embarking on his insurance career with Commercial Union (now Aviva), spending six years in their Birmingham office. He then moved to become a sales manager with Marsh for a few years, before moving to Allianz where he spent over seven years, during which time he ran one of their branches, before moving to Head Office, where he worked closely with members of the UK Board and Regional Allianz Teams to manage strategic relationships with key National and Global Brokers across the UK, including Willis Towers Watson.

It was through his strategic relationship role at Allianz that John came to know the Willis Towers Watson Networks Division, where he has worked for the last nine years as Regional Managing Director, covering all UK regions. John spends his time leading the regional teams across the UK to deliver consultancy and support to our Network Members to assist their growth and ensure that they derive maximum benefit from their Willis Towers Watson Network membership, whilst also driving the Network's collective placement agenda and working with our Partner Insurers to deliver optimal value to them.

Outside work John is happily married with a son, Joe, at University and a daughter, Ellie, who works at the CII. He enjoys playing the piano (especially at Network Forums), sport and socialising with friends.

After starting his career in motor underwriting, Peter switched to broking, and eventually led a management buy-out of the UK commercial division of Farr in 2000 which he then named FMW Risk Services Ltd.  He grew this business to approximately £25m gross written premium before selling the business in December 2007 to Oval.  In 2012 Peter was appointed Chief Executive of Oval and he ran the business through until its eventual sale to Arthur J. Gallagher which completed in April 2014.

In May 2015 Peter concluded a management buy-in of Aston Scott and then led the merger with Lark Group in 2017.  As Group CEO of Aston Lark he now leads a business with circa 1,500 staff operating from offices across the UK and Ireland and writing approximately £650m of gross written premium. Aston Lark is backed by the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs alongside Bowmark Capital LLP.

Peter is also non-executive chairman at Hastings Insurance Services Ltd, the broker arm of Hastings Direct, and up until recently served as chairman of the Large Brokers’ Advisory Board at the British Insurance Brokers Insurance Association (BIBA).  He is currently Deputy President of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Peter lives in Colchester with his wife, Sue, and has three children aged 21, 19 and 14 and his hobbies include cycling, golf, shooting and watching rugby.

Steven founded Bought By Many in 2012 to create better insurance for everyone and launched unique pet insurance offerings in 2017. Technology is at their core, from data analytics that informs policy design and pricing, to developing admin systems. Recognised as one of the UK’s top Fintech companies, they have been included in The Sunday Times TechTrack for the last 3 years. In 2019, the business launched into Sweden and has continued to receive awards and recognition from pet owners for its customer service. This year, Bought By Many crossed the Atlantic and launched its offering to pet owners in the US under the brand name ‘ManyPets’ - reaching more of the world’s many pets. Steven an actuary, previously he headed McKinsey’s UK Savings and Investment Group, and was head of wealth management at Close Brothers.