Board Members
Understanding from collective experience -
The Board is responsible for the strategic direction of the business and supervising its operational management. This extends to taking overall responsibility for financial performance, internal controls and risk management of the company.
Board Members:
Paul Smith - Managing Director
Paul effectively started the UK Underwriting business in 1989. With over 20 years experience in the insurance market he was appointed a director of UK Insurance Ltd in 1994 and subsequently oversaw the development of the specialist business which in 2002 became UK Underwriting Ltd.
Since then he has lead the successful development of UK Underwriting Ltd to the point today where it employs over 200 people and a turnover measured by premium insurance of in excess of £100m.
Howard Posner - Chairman
Howard was appointed as Chairman of the UKU Group in November 2007 after holding the post of non-executive Chairman since May 2006. He was previously the Managing Director of HBOS General Insurance for 11 years, prior to which he worked in the London reinsurance market.
Howard is currently non-executive Director of a number of companies in the financial services sector including QBE Insurance (Europe) Ltd and Giles Insurance brokers Ltd.
Tim Ward - Group Finance Director
Tim qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young in 1992. He joined UKI in 1993 as Finance Manager with responsibility for assisting the development of the third party schemes business as well as all regulatory and statutory reporting for the insurance company.
Tim oversaw a business wide programme auditing third party clients, a key competency of the UKU Group today.
Tim was appointed UKU Group Financial Director in 2002.
Executive Management:
Mark Randerson - Head of Group Distribution & business development
Mark has a MBA and MSc in Business & Management Science and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Prior to joining the UKU Group, he held senior business development and marketing roles with GE Capital, HBOS, BUPA and LEX Retail / RAC Group.
Mark joined the UKU Group in 2006 to lead the Group Distribution & Business Development functions (including Marketing, Projects and I.T).
Graeme Bell - Head Of Operations
Graeme is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters. He joined Miller Fisher in 1996, where he became Operations Director. In 2002 he joined Capita Insurance Services as Operations/Account Director.
Graeme joined the UKU Group in 2003 with responsibility for the Group’s claims management services and is now Head of Operations.
Karen Smith - Head of Technical
Karen is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and currently studying towards a BA in Financial Services. Since 1986, she has had extensive experience of working as an underwriter and broker, with General Accident plc. and then Wilby Insurance Brokers Ltd, where she became a director in 1994.
Karen joined the UKU Group in 2002 as the underwriting manager and is now responsible for a team of 12 underwriters.
Gary Cuddy - Head of IT and Strategic Projects
Gary has 20+ years experience in project management and systems development where he held senior management roles with Barclays Bank, TDG, Ocado and the Co-operative Group.
Gary joined the UKU Group in 2006 to lead the IT and Project functions developing strategic IT projects for the Group.