Beazley appoints broker relations head

Lloyd’s insurer Beazley has appointed former broker Dan Jones, currently a non-executive director of the firm, to take charge of its strategic broker relations programme.

Jones, who will step down as a non-executive director of Beazley and join the firm’s executive committee, will focus on deepening relationships with key business producers around the world.

Beazley derives all its business from brokers, principally Lloyd’s brokers. But since establishing a presence as an admitted local insurer in the US in 2005, the insurer has also developed new relationships with US retail brokers that do not place business directly at Lloyd’s. The developed insurance markets of continental Europe offer additional growth opportunities.

Jones has been a non executive director of Beazley since 2006. Between 1997 and 2005, he was a senior executive at broker Marsh. His roles there included vice chairman responsible for non-US operations, strategic planning, M&A, and global middle market business. After retiring from Marsh, he re-entered the broking business in 2006 as president of Moreton & Company, a Salt Lake City-based regional financial services concern focusing on the western US.

“For four years, Dan Jones has given us valuable insights as a non executive director into the changing needs and expectations of the brokers upon whom we rely for business,” said Andrew Horton, chief executive of Beazley, in a statement. “ I am delighted that he has agreed to take a hands-on role in shaping and executing our broker distribution strategy going forward.”

Jones added that because Beazley is a specialist rather than a generalist insurer, finding the best fit between the insurer and a broker takes time and effort. “I look forward to working closely with Beazley's underwriters to expand the many successful broker relationships that already exist and to create new ones,” he said.