Lockton, the world’s largest privately-owned independent insurance broker, has appointed Michael James as Head of Facilities & Binders within its London Property & Casualty (P&C) Specialties division. Michael begins his new role with immediate effect, reporting to Adam Watson, Head of North American Property.
In this role, Michael will be involved in building out the P&C Specialties’ binders and facilities business, focusing on strategic cross-class growth areas for the division, including North American property and casualty. Additionally, Michael will lead initiatives to broaden the team’s expertise, as well as enhancing the division’s use of data and analytics, technology and digital processes.
Michael brings more than 30 years of London Market experience to Lockton, across both broking and underwriting disciplines, having overseen business originating from a range of geographies. He joins Lockton after 10 years at Chesterfield, where he was a North American Binders & Facilities broker and took a leading role in establishing the direction and expansion of that book of business. Before that, he was an underwriter and Head of North America at Markel, based in London.
Michael’s arrival marks the latest addition to Lockton’s rapidly expanding P&C Specialties division, following the appointment of Robert Rechtern, Head of Accident & Health, Sports and Contingency in October 2022. These appointments demonstrate Lockton’s commitment to building out its market-leading specialty segments, as the business continues to evolve and serves the needs of its growing client-base worldwide.
Simon Scholfield, Partner, Head of P&C Specialities at Lockton, said: “Michael is a fantastic addition to the P&C Specialties team. His performance to date of building and growing profitable facilities and binders business, particularly in North America, perfectly complements the wealth of talent and expertise Lockton is already home to, and will place us well to excel in a time of strategic and sustainable growth. I am delighted to welcome Michael to the team and, with his added skills, look forward to providing an even more specialist service.”
Michael James said: “It is an exciting time to join Lockton, as demand grows for hyper-focused, tailored solutions in the facilities and binders space. To bring those solutions to market requires flexibility and a nimble approach, which is what attracted me to Lockton, as the world’s largest independent broker. It is a pleasure to join Simon and the rest of the team, I cannot wait to get started.”
Lockton has been awarded the Best Place to Work in Insurance for 13 years in a row, is a 2022 US Best Managed Company and has been recognised by Forbes as a 2022 Best Large Employer and Best Employer for Diversity.
Lockton was named as one of the UK’s top 50 best large companies to work for in 2022, according to the Sunday Times’ annual “Best Companies” survey (opens a new window). The same survey ranked Lockton as one of the insurance sector’s top five best companies to work for. In addition, Lockton was given a Three Star Accreditation, the highest rating, representing “world class levels of workplace engagement” with its Associates.