Rob Organ: Jensten’s chief executive on ‘what’s next’ for growing broker

Insurance distribution firm Jensten is often referred to as a broker, but its new chief executive Rob Organ believes that the growing business “is so much more than that”. 

Organ became chief executive in November 2024 and succeeded Alistair Hardie, who had led Jensten since 2020. 

The new appointee joined Jensten in 2021 as part of the group’s acquisition of Tasker Insurance Group, where he had worked as chief executive since 2017. 

He was made managing director of Jensten Retail as part of the transition, before being made chief executive of broking for Jensten in May 2024. 

This was all part of an agreed transition in leadership from Hardie to Organ, which was in the works almost immediately after Jensten acquired Tasker. 

Organ says that Hardie decided to leave the business because he had achieved what he had been brought in to do, which was “evolve and build” what had been a franchise network supported by a wholesale business into an owned broking operation via buy and build. 

Since 2021, Jensten has completed 37 acquisitions and established a suite of capabilities. In 2022, it also streamlined its structure and established Jensten London Markets, its MGA Jensten Underwriting – which was formed through the merger of Policyfast, City Underwriters and Gresham Underwriting – and its regional and wholesale broker business Jensten Insurance Brokers, which incorporated Tasker alongside Huntingdon and Ilkeston brands. 

At the time of this restructure, when Organ was retail managing director, he explained that the streamlining process would create “the building blocks for our growth going forward”.

And, speaking to Insurance Times now, he says that he stepped up to his new role “at a time when we’re actually entering the next phase of our evolution”. 

He adds: ”Having rapidly grown and developed Jensten, we’re now moving on with a really solid foundation to be able to springboard ahead – so there’s a very clear distinction between what we needed to do three years ago and what we’re looking to do going forward.” 

“It’s what’s next for us that I and the broader leadership team have been focusing on over the last six months – that plan is alive and well and deeply entrenched across the whole business.” 

Building out

Jensten first burst into the Insurance Times Top 50 Brokers report in 2022, coming in 36th place with revenue of £36.5m.

In the most recent report, published 18 December 2024, the broker had actually fallen to 38th, despite increasing its revenue to £46.3m. This fall in position was more due to other brokers growing at a faster rate, however, and Organ says Jensten is now prepared to build quickly.

Having been promoted to drive the next stage in Jensten’s development as a business, Organ says that his focuses are split between organic growth and a specific M&A strategy. 

He explains: “We’ve grown from around a £200m gross written premium business to over £600 and gone from 200 or so employees to now over 1,000.

”Sitting over and above all of that is a really strong focus on making sure we deliver on the potential in front of us – which is that we’re a growth oriented business just starting on this journey.” 

Organ says that this involves organically growing almost every part of the Jensten stable of businesses, including developing further lines and expertise in its MGA, growing out its regional footprint further and taking the ”huge opportunity” to support brokers to establish themselves in the UK via its network. 

The aim, he says, is “overarchingly to cement our place as a major player in the UK marketplace that is able to compete on many fronts”. 

He adds: “We’re advantaged here because we’re focused on the UK – some of the larger players who are equally, if not more, sophisticated than us from a business model perspective have the distraction of an agenda to grow internationally.” 

In terms of organic growth, Organ notes that its people, as well as focus on specialism and schemes business, should allow it “grow market share and win in the market”. 

M&A strategy

Alongside a strategy to grow organically, Organ says that he and the rest of Jensten’s leadership are also interested in acquiring “the right businesses” – specifying that this does not involve “building scale for scale’s sake”.

The establishment of Jensten regions has helped the broker to identify targets that fit into the Jensten wheelhouse, with this fertile ground for further expansion.

Organ says: ”Having 35 plus offices across our regions allows us to do more local acquisitions. For example, if there’s a small local business that’s looking to join a larger organisation like Jensten, without joining a large international that they wouldn’t be suited to, then we’re a good option because we have that presence and can continue to look after their people and clients.

“We would expect to complete some local M&A in each region by acquiring other regionally based businesses that can help us to serve communities in the regions that we have a presence in. 

“On top of building out regions, we know there are some other geographies where we haven’t got a strong a presence as we would like, so we’ll look to build out the number of regions too.” 

As well as acquiring more broker businesses, Organ says that Jensten would like to grow its MGA with a potential acquisition, although this area retains ”a large marketplace that we can organically grow into by developing niche, non-standard product offerings”. 

However, he adds: “If we can accelerate our ability to establish ourselves in a broader MGA space through acquisition, then we will – but we know what we want to get into and it would need to fit our strategic objectives and priorities.” 

Part of the broker’s M&A strategy is also supported by its broker network business. This facet of Jensten is designed to help brokers establish themselves either via a franchise model or as appointed representatives with their own branding.

However, when it comes to those established businesses scaling up and looking to sell, Organ says it makes “perfect sense” for Jensten to consider acquiring them. 

He explains: “We know those businesses and have great relationships with them – when the time to sell comes then they know we know their business and they know us. It’s a natural step when it comes to that point.” 

Organ says that one of the focuses for his tenure at Jensten is to change the perception of the business.

Although the past few years have seen it establish its own place in the market, Organ says: ”Jensten is still seen as a quite a new organisation, so if there’s one thing that we can achieve, it’s to really make sure that the market understands us better.”