Davies, the leading specialist professional services and technology firm, today announces that James Heath has been appointed to the role of Group Chief Risk Officer.  Davies delivers operations, consulting and technology solutions across the risk and insurance value chain, including excellence in claims, underwriting, distribution, regulation, customer experience, human capital, transformation & change management.

Davies recently completed the acquisition of Keoghs, the leading provider of dispute resolution and risk services for the UK insurance sector.  Davies has a global team of more than 3,700 colleagues, with operating centres across the UK, Ireland, Bermuda, the US and Canada.  The combined business serves more than 500 insurance, highly regulated clients and global clients.

Currently a Partner and Head of Risk & Compliance at Davies’ legal arm, Keoghs, Heath will take up his new role on 1 June 2020, reporting directly to Group CEO, Dan Saulter.  Heath trained as a solicitor, and has worked in legal practice with Keoghs since 1995 specialising in the delivery of counter-fraud and intelligence services to compensators, and was the first supplier recipient of the Industry Achievement Award at the 2018 Insurance Fraud Awards.  An accomplished senior risk professional, Heath has been Keoghs Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (“COLP”), managing Keoghs’ Risk & Compliance team since 2014.  In his new role his remit will include risk, compliance and regulation on a global basis, supporting decision making across Davies, as it seeks to continue its expansion in to new territories and to add new domain expertise.

In 2019, Davies delivered revenue growth of 49%, including double-digit organic growth, as it launched new claims and insurance operations in the US, as well as doubling the size of its Ireland operations via the acquisition of Thornton Group and significant new business wins.  In the UK the firm added a new Learning Solutions segment to its Consulting & Technology offering, through the acquisition of FWD, and added new claims capability through the acquisitions of TMS, GBB and Banwells.  In February 2020 Davies was named as one of the fastest growing international companies in the Sunday Times International Track 200.

Dan Saulter, Group Chief Executive of Davies said: “I am delighted to welcome James to our Group Executive team, following his well-deserved promotion.  We are proud of our record of creating career mobility for talented people across the group, and this appointment is testament to that.  Reflecting on the current COVID-19 pandemic, we expect to see more emerging risks and more regulation in the future, making this the right time for us to create this new role of Group Chief Risk Officer.  I look forward to working closely with James.”

James Heath added: “Having led Keoghs’ risk and compliance function as COLP since 2014, I am delighted to now step up to this new challenge. Delivering a consistent and robust risk management framework across the Group is crucial, and after 25 years within Keoghs, I now look forward to applying that experience across the wider group, working closely with all of our businesses, our clients and our people to ensure we employ leading risk management practices across the organisation.”

For all media enquiries please contact Paris Baker, Head of Group Communications at paris.baker@davies-group.com or +44 7500 781175