Willis Networks Appoints Two New Managing Directors in UK Regions
London, UK, November 11, 2010 – Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WHS) today announced the appointment of two
new Regional Managing Directors for Willis Networks, the global insurance broker’s alliance with local, independent brokers
in the UK. Mike Rush will be responsible for Willis Networks in Scotland, Northern England and
Northern Ireland, while Simon Taylor will look after Central and Southern England and Wales. Both will
report to Phil Scarrett, Managing Director, Willis Networks.
Rush and Taylor will be based in Preston and London respectively and will both work with members
of the Willis Commercial Network (WCN), which represents brokers placing annual premiums of between £3 million
and £40 million, and Willis N2, which represents smaller community brokers with up to £3 million
in annual premium placements.
With over 30 years of insurance industry experience, Rush joins Willis from the Broker Network Group where
he was Regional Director for Southern England. Before that, he ran his own company offering business
development and marketing consultancy services to various financial services institutions, specialising in the insurance arena. Rush
also spent over 20 years in insurance broking working for various regional, national and Lloyd’s brokers.
Taylor’s most recent role was as Sales & Marketing Director for Primary General, an underwriting company that
provides commercial underwriting and risk management solutions to intermediaries for small to medium sized UK businesses.
Before that he spent five years at NIG, the National Insurance and Guarantee Corporation, focusing on
mid market business via large commercial and national brokers.
Commenting on the appointments, Phil Scarrett, Managing Director, Willis Networks said, “Mike understands the importance that regional
brokers place on remaining independent, a belief that Willis Networks is firmly founded on. Having worked
on the network, broking and consultancy sides of the business, he knows the challenges that regional
brokers face and what they need from us and our insurer partners to meet those challenges.
“Simon has a deep understanding of the UK commercial insurance intermediated market and the knowledge to build
strong, stand-out products and value-added services for our members that they can pass on to their
clients.
“Our Regional Managing Directors work closely with Network members to help them grow organically and by acquisition,
and to ensure that they receive the full benefit of our wide ranging training and marketing
support and access to the market.”
In other news, Willis Networks has also promoted Bernard Farrell from Regional Managing Director for Scotland, Northern
England and Northern Ireland to overall Sales Director, while further increasing its regional presence with the
appointments of Simon Clegg and Jayne Bolton as Business Development Manager and Regional Operations Manager respectively.
Willis Networks also announced that it has appointed Andrew Tilley as Online Marketing Manager to support
its members in growing their online distribution and marketing channels.
Willis Group Holdings plc is a leading global insurance broker. Through its subsidiaries, Willis develops and delivers
professional insurance, reinsurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public
entities and institutions around the world. Willis has more than 400 offices in nearly 120 countries,
with a global team of approximately 17,000 employees serving clients in virtually every part of the
world. Additional information on Willis may be found at www.willis.com.
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