Aventum’s first managing director to take ‘bird’s eye view’ on ‘ambitious plans’

International (re)insurance group Aventum has promoted John Eldridge to the role of managing director, a statement released today (25 January 2024) said.

Eldridge joined the group in January 2020 and was most recently the firm’s chief commercial officer.

In the newly created position, Eldridge will be responsible for leading the day to-day operation of the business, including coordinating the group’s central functions.

He will also support the expansion of Aventum’s managing general agent (MGA) Rokstone and speciality broking platform Consilium.

Aventum chief executive and founder David Bearman said the creation of the new role will enable the appointee to “take a bird’s eye view to coordinating our operation and accelerate our ambitious plans”.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth across Aventum since we reorganised the group in 2021,” he said.

”Growth has come [because] of our success, but growth on its own has never been the ambition.

“Aventum is one of the very few genuinely independent, debt-free specialist insurance platforms of scale in the world and our ambition to be the best in the industry burns bright.”

Experience

Eldridge’s career background is one that burns bright too, having climbed up the ranks through a variety of senior roles over the last 15 years.

Prior to joining Aventum, Eldridge was managing director at Canopius UK Specialty.

He has also served as managing director at Coleman Insurance Brokers and head of operations within commercial insurance at HSBC Insurance Brokers.

“My role as managing director is to facilitate and orchestrate, particularly the internal workings of the group, as we embark upon the next phase of the journey,” Eldridge said.

“Our ambitions centre around quality rather than scale – being the best solution and service provider in our selected markets and most enjoyable and inspiring place to work”.

Insurance force

Eldridge’s promotion follows Aventum appointing Robert Moorehead-Lane – former chief risk officer (CRO) at Aspen UK – to the role of CRO and Hassani Jess – previously chief technology officer (CTO) at Simply Business – to the role of CTO.

Both appointments were announced in October 2023 and, like Eldridge’s position, were newly created roles to facilitate the business’ “ambitious growth” strategy.

Aventum was launched on 4 May 2021 and currently trades more than $1.5bn (£1.18bn) gross written premium (GWP) annually across 17 offices.

Eldridge said that “there’s a lot more to Aventum than most people realise”.

“We may be 27 years in the making, but we’re really just getting started,” he added.

“When I walk through the doors of Aventum’s offices I never fail to be inspired and humbled.

“We have an incredibly talented team spanning a global platform that has been built organically from the ground-up over 27 years.”