Be Wiser has reshaped its Board to further support its future growth and customer engagement plans, bringing in three external hires including former Endsleigh CEO Jeff Brinley as Chief Financial Officer.
The new executive line-up, which is subject to regulatory approval, also includes Joe Copp as Group Chief Operating Officer. Joe joins Be Wiser from Travelers, where he was Head of Operations for Europe.
David Russell, whose long career in the industry has spanned a range of senior regulatory and compliance roles including at RSA, the FSA and HM Treasury, becomes Be Wiser Chief Risk & Compliance Officer and will also take a seat on the Board.
In a further change, Neil Macmillan has swapped roles with Peter Hubbard and becomes independent non-executive Chairman. This releases Peter, who remains an independent Non-executive Director, to work more closely with founder Mark Bower-Dyke in helping achieve the future aspirations of the business.
Be Wiser CEO Sharon Beckett said: “The changes are a significant next step in the company’s drive for growth, and give great input and overview to our quality Executive team.
“This dynamic new alignment of our executive roles is designed to create the best and most effective structure to continue driving our business forward, as well as ensuring transparency of our governance and management responsibilities.”
Mark Bower Dyke, Chief Visionary Officer & founder added: “Peter remains very involved in the business and is keen to help move us forward.
“This change of role enables him to do exactly that, and we are very fortunate to have the continued input of such a skilful figure within our industry. I’m also delighted that Neil is able to step into the Chairman role, further developing the very valuable contribution he has already made.”
About Jeff Brinley:
Jeff spent 29 years at Endsleigh Insurance in a number of roles including CFO. In 2014 he was appointed Finance Director Personal Lines for Zurich, before returning to Endsleigh two years later as CEO.
About Joe Copp:
Joe was Operations Manager at Chubb for 10 years, moving to Allianz in 2005, becoming their Head of Operations in May 2010. In 2012 he moved to Travelers as Head of Operations Europe, before joining Be Wiser.
About David Russell:
David’s long career in governance, regulation, risk management and compliance spans senior roles in the City, and with the Regulator and Civil Service.
Since April last year he has been an INED with InsurerCore – a fintech platform that helps brokers and insurers match their business requirements efficiently.
Prior to that he spent seven years at global insurer/reinsurer Allied World’s Lloyd’s Managing Agency, latterly as Managing Director
About Neil Macmillan:
Neil Macmillan’s career spans more than 30 years in banking and insurance, predominantly in internal audit, risk and compliance roles.
Most recently he has worked for the RSA Group where he was Group Chief Auditor and Group Chief Risk Officer, and for EY in their European Risk Division, before taking on Non-executive Director roles in 2014.
He is currently Chairman of DAS UK Group, and is also a board director of Allied World’s Lloyds Syndicate and European businesses.
About Peter Hubbard:
Peter Hubbard has held a variety of CEO and non-executive roles across the financial services industry. He joined Co-op Insurance as chairman in September 2017, which he has held alongside a number of non-executive positions, including QMetric, the MGAA and the Dudley Building Society.
He was Group Chief Executive at UK General Insurance between 2012-2016, having begun his senior executive career at Lloyds Banking Group where he became Director of Strategy for UK Retail Banking. He was Chief Executive of AXA UK for seven years until 2008.