RSA splits up senior roles after surprise COO exit

RSA chief executive Adrian Brown has created two new senior roles following the shock departure of UK chief operating officer Christian Torkington after five months.

Brown has split the role into two areas of operations, and promoted David Pitt to UK operations director and Giles Baxter to UK information systems (IS) and change director, with both reporting to the RSA boss.

The development comes after it emerged that Torkington, who joined RSA from Scottish Widows in August 2009, is returning to Scotland to be closer to his family. He is joining the main board of Standard Life.

The new roles will hand Pitt responsibility for RSA’s UK operational claims, and sales and service functions. He has been with RSA for over 20 years and is currently UK operational claims director. Previously, he was chief executive of RSA China, based in Shanghai. He has also held a number of roles covering products, claims and operations.

Giles has been given responsibility for RSA’s ongoing IS & change programme. He currently works in RSA’s emerging markets team as Asia and Middle East IT and operations director, where he is accountable for IS and operations, including change and sourcing across Asia, Middle East and India.

Other roles previously held within RSA include: emerging markets chief information officer; Baltic chief information officer; and group IS strategy manager.

An RSA spokesman said Brown’s decision to split the roles will help drive accountability and focus within the business.

Brown said: “I am delighted that David and Giles are taking on these new roles at RSA. They both bring their extensive knowledge of the company to their roles and I am confident they will deliver the right focus and leadership to our operations and IS & change functions.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Christian Torkington for his contribution to RSA and wish him well for the future.”