Our Executive Team

As Chief Financial Officer, John is responsible for all aspects of the finance function including statutory and regulatory reporting, FP&A, Strategic Projects, control, risk management and group reporting.

Prior to joining Covéa Insurance in 2017, John undertook a broad range of financial leadership roles across B2B and B2C sectors. John is commercially focussed with a consistent track record of transforming corporate performance and creating significant value through successfully project managing finance and operational change.

As Speciality Lines and IT Director, Ian is responsible for the delivery of our IT strategy and for the delivery of our IT programme of priorities. Ian also has executive oversight for the profitable growth of our Pet insurance business as well as the performance of our affinity partnerships.

Ian has over 23 years’ experience in the insurance industry, starting his career at Albion Insurance in 1998, working across Digital, Finance and Operations before joining Covéa Insurance. From 2015, Ian headed up the strategic development of the Motor and Pet proposition before being appointed as Director of Motor and Pet in 2020.

Previously, Ian studied Computer Science at the University of Kent and has completed the Ashridge Business School’s Management Development programme.

As our Personal Lines Director, Sue is responsible for the Personal Lines account performance. Additionally Sue oversees the management of our Intermediary Distribution and Portfolio Management.

Previously Sue was Director of Personal Lines Distribution with responsibility for the distribution of all our Personal Lines and Protection products through our network of intermediaries. Prior to this time, Sue also led the product development and underwriting teams for Personal Lines.

Prior to joining Covéa Insurance, Sue worked at Zurich Insurance, predominantly in personal lines roles in sales management and distribution, but she also spent some time in underwriting and commercial.

Laurent was appointed Chief Risk Officer in October 2012 with responsibility for risk management, compliance and the implementation of Solvency II.

Prior to the formation of Covéa Insurance, Laurent was Head of Solvency II for Covéa International, a position he had held since September 2011.

Laurent has worked in the insurance and reinsurance industry for over 20 years and prior to joining Covéa International held various actuarial and executive roles with French insurers GAN, Groupama and April Group.

Laurent has a Masters in Statistics and Economics from the French Statistics and Economics Agency, a Masters in Mathematics from Paris-La Sorbonne and qualified as a French Actuary in 1994.

As Commercial Lines Director, Keith is responsible for leading the Commercial Lines team and driving profitable growth through service excellence and underwriting performance. Previously Keith held the role of Director of Commercial Operations and Distribution where he had responsibility for Covéa’s Mid-Market, SME and Schemes distribution and the underwriting teams that support these products. With a proven track record of successfully growing businesses through building strong, mutually beneficial relationships, Keith is passionate about ensuring we deliver compelling commercial propositions that help brokers to grow their business.

Prior to this Keith ran his own consultancy business, working for major international insurers, brokers, MGA’s and service providers. Keith has worked in the insurance industry for over 35 years and his experience includes customer facing leadership and board level roles for major insurers.

Keith has an MBA and is an ILM level 5 coach.

Stephen is responsible for all our claims and operations activity. Previously, Stephen held roles as Head of Operations and Head of Direct Distribution since 2014.

Having joined Provident Insurance as a Graduate Trainee in 2001, Stephen held a wide variety of senior management positions in Claims, Customer Services, Credit Control, Marketing and Sales. He was also part of the team that supported the integration of Provident Insurance and MMA Insurance to form Covéa Insurance in 2012.

Stephen has an MBA and a degree in Business & Management Studies from the University of Bradford and is ACII qualified with Chartered Insurer status.

Within Catherine's role as Director of Pricing, she is responsible for technical pricing, market pricing and technical underwriting. Catherine plays a key role in supporting our business growth whilst ensuring we continue to deliver real value for our customers.

Previously, Catherine was Head of Market Pricing where she led the development and expansion of our retail pricing capability. With over 12 years’ experience gained at Esure, Catherine held senior roles in personal lines pricing within the aggregator market.

Catherine is an alumni of the ABI Future Leaders Programme 2021 and University of Bath.

Lisa was appointed Chief People Officer in December 2019. Before this Lisa had been the Director of HR & Learning since October 2015, following 3 years as Head of HR & Learning for Covéa Insurance. Lisa is responsible for leading, developing and implementing the HR & Learning strategy and culture.

Prior to this, Lisa had worked for Provident Insurance since 1995 where she held roles in both claims and Learning & Development.

Lisa is a chartered Member of the CIPD, has a post-Graduate in Organisational Development and Design and is a qualified MBTI practitioner. Additionally in 2020, Lisa also qualified as a ILM 7 Executive Coach.

Sophie was appointed Actuarial Director in 2023 after joining Covéa as Non-Life Chief Actuary in 2020. She is responsible for the Non-Life Actuarial Function which sets regulatory and statutory reserves for our personal and commercial lines, assesses the required solvency capital, and contributes to underwriting, reinsurance and risk management frameworks.

Sophie started her career as a consultant for Willis Towers Watson, before joining RSA Group where she worked in reserving and capital, leading the global capital modelling team and later branching out into corporate finance projects. She also worked as an independent consultant for companies including Allianz UK.

Sophie is a Fellow of the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries, a French certified actuary and holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD.

Nick is responsible for leading company-wide transformation and strategic initiatives. He joined Covéa Insurance in 2017 and has held a number of leadership roles in product management, transformation and design.

Nick has more than 20 years’ experience in Strategy, Transformation and Change, including 12 years within the insurance sector. Prior to this Nick worked for a global management consultancy across multiple sectors, specialising in operational and people change. Nick is a passionate proponent of design thinking approaches to problem solving and has led multiple award-winning initiatives.

Nick has a degree in Business Management, an MBA from Manchester Business School and has studied Design Thinking at MIT.