Davies promotes Dhara Patel to President and Deputy CEO of its North American business following significant growth
July 23rd 2024
North America: 22 July 2024 – Davies, the leading specialist professional services and technology business serving insurance and highly regulated markets, has today announced the promotion of Dhara Patel to the newly created role of President and Deputy CEO of its North American business. The news comes as the firm announces a new go-to-market structure in North America under CEO, Matt Button, following a period of significant growth, with US Dollar revenues now making up half of Davies’ global business.
Dhara joined Davies in 2023 following Davies’ acquisition of ACM, USIS, PGCS and ICA. Spanning a 20-year career in the insurance and professional services industry, Dhara has held multiple senior executive leadership positions including as Services Segment President at Brown & Brown, responsible for strategic growth and service delivery, and latterly as Davies’ CEO – Specialty Programs.
As President and Deputy CEO, Dhara will lead Davies’ North American operations and sales teams at a time when Davies continues its commitment to invest and grow its service offering for clients in the U.S. and Canada. Dhara will report directly to CEO, Matt Button. The new structure will be effective from August 1st, 2024.
Commenting on her appointment Dhara said: “I am honored to take on this new role and I look forward to working closely with our talented leadership team here in North America, and around the globe. It is an exciting time to be part of Davies as we continue to innovate, deliver exceptional solutions to clients, and strong organic and M&A growth”.
Under the new structure, Dhara’s top team is made up of: Peter Lucas, CEO of Insurance and Risk Management, Ken Scott, Senior Vice President of Growth and Account Management, and Don Lederer, who has been newly promoted to CEO of Davies’ enlarged Claims Solutions business unit. This follows the recent integration of the firm’s Claims Solutions and Specialty Programs businesses.
Matt Button, CEO – North America, Davies said: “Dhara is a highly accomplished leader, she has made a big impact since joining from the Brown & Brown deal, and her experience is invaluable to our business. We have a proud record of internal promotion and career development in Davies, and I am thrilled to see Dhara and Don step up into their new roles”.
Davies has consistently delivered high single digit annual organic growth which alongside its M&A strategy, has seen the firm grow revenues more than 25-fold since 2014. Over the last five years, Davies has invested heavily in research & development, innovation & artificial intelligence (“AI”), platform integration & underlying business systems, colleague development, and client service. Davies’ artificial intelligence claims product, Lauri, has revolutionised the processing of both personal injury and credit hire claims, reducing average handling times by 30 minutes, and supporting the delivery of more accurate claim valuation.
In the past 10 years, Davies has completed more than 50 acquisitions, expanding its service offering & entering new geographies to support its growing, global client base of more than 1,700 insurance & highly regulated businesses. In November 2023, the firm added significant new claims and services capabilities to its North American claims business through the acquisitions of four claims and services businesses from Brown & Brown. Earlier this year, in February 2024 Davies added forensic accounting expertise, through the acquisition of Matson, Driscoll & Damico (MDD).