The business is looking to expand into the US
Jason Stockwood has stepped down as Simply Business group chief executive.
UK chief executive David Summers has been promoted to fill Stockwood’s role.
Summers has been at Simply Business since 2006. After joining from Accenture as a product manager, he has since taken on roles as head of partnerships, director of operations, and chief operating officer. In November 2017 he became UK chief executive.
As the group plans its move for expansion into the US market, Stockwood will transition to serve as vice chairman.
A spokesperson for Simply Business stated Stockwood will now focus on “longer term strategy and culture to help scale the business”.
Summers will now take on the responsibility for day-to-day operations across the UK and US.
Simply Business was bought by US insurer Travelers for $490m in March 2017, with a view to the acquisition accelerating US growth.
In August this year, backed by Travelers funds, the business acquired Canadian insurtech start-up Zensurance to help it’s US plan. Summers said building on this and expanding in the US will be a key part of his new role next year.
“We’re really ambitious in the US,” Summers said. “That market is quite a few years behind the UK in terms of digital demand, and there’s some complexity that we don’t have here in the UK. So there’s a few twists and turns that that could take.”
Summers told Insurance Times the US market is around ten years behind the UK in its digital demand, creating the opportunity of rapid growth for the online commercial SME insurance broker.
In a full interview with Insurance Times, Summers revealed his plans for growing the UK business next year, along with his thoughts on underinsurance, aggregators, and where the market is heading.
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