Current chairman Clive Coates to retire in May.
Brit Insurance Holdings, the UK-domiciled international general insurer and reinsurer,has announced that Clive Coates will retire as chairman at the AGM on 15 May. Coates will be succeeded by John Barton, who is appointed a non-executive director and deputy chairman of Brit Insurance as of 1 October.
Coates said: "By next spring I will have served six years on the board, five and a half of which will have been as Chairman. It has been a time I have enjoyed enormously and one in which the business has gone from strength to strength. However, in line with the recommendations of the Combined Code in relation to length of tenure for a non-executive director, earlier in the year I asked the nominations committee chairman to lead the appropriate succession process. I am delighted that the search has secured a chairman designate with the qualities and experience that John brings to take the group forward."
Dane Douetil, chief executive officer, said: "I am delighted that John has agreed to join Brit Insurance. He brings a wealth of senior City experience particularly from the insurance underwriting and broking industry but also from the property and consumer retail arena. I am very much looking forward to working with him and continuing developing a similarly strong relationship that I, and the rest of the board, have enjoyed with Clive Coates."
Currently Barton is chairman of Next. He is also a non-executive director of WH Smith. He was formerly chief executive of JIB Group for 13 years, chairman of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group for 5 years and chairman of Wellington Underwriting for 5 years.
