Pen Underwriting makes trio of senior appointments

MGA Pen Underwriting has made three senior appointments, including creating two new positions to help support the company’s growth strategy.

Firstly, the firm has moved Stewart Gardiner into the freshly formed role of technical underwriting director, which will cover all lines of business and all divisions. In this position, Gardiner will work to meet capacity providers’ agreed standards as well as lead the underwriting due diligence for future mergers and acquisitions.

Now reporting to chief underwriting officer Jennifer Martin, Gardiner was previous the MGA’s underwriting director for its risk managed commercial business.

On the appointment, Martin said: “The introduction of this new leadership position underlines the absolute importance we place on integrity and professionalism within the discipline of underwriting.

“Stewart’s cross-class expertise combined with his extensive market and technical underwriting knowledge will see him excel in this role. His market reputation, first-rate trading skills and sound understanding of the required governance structure for an underwriting business of our size and scale also place him brilliantly in this position.”

Commercial changes

Pen Underwriting has also switched Seb Simmonds from being the managing director of commercial delegated solutions to instead take up the role of managing director for risk managed commercial – he replaces Nick Wright, who has become the business’s chief business development officer.

Simmonds will take responsibility for the overall performance of the risk managed commercial division, supported by teams in Leeds, Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and London.

Working alongside Simmonds will be Rob Chapman, the MGA’s former regional director who will be taking up the newly created position of commercial director of risk managed commercial. Chapman will focus on trading performance, supporting capacity relationships, broker panels, sales and marketing collaboration and operational efficiency.

The leaders will take up their new roles from November 2020, after a thorough handover period.

The appointments have been designed to support Pen Underwriting’s growth plans, which it announced in July; it has a five-year strategy to become a £1bn GWP business.

Steve Thornett, managing director of Pen Underwriting’s specialty division, said: “Our risk managed commercial business is a core part of Pen’s differentiated proposition for brokers and will be a massive contributor to the successful delivery of our ambitious plans for accelerated growth to become a £1bn business. With Seb and Rob at the helm we know the performance and future expansion of this business is assured.”