Veteran industry executive Annette Court has emerged as the top contender for the chairmanship role at car insurance giant
Admiral,
The Sunday Times reports.
Court would succeed Admiral chairman Alastair Lyons, who will retire in April. The supposed frontrunner for the top role has been a non-executive director of the insurance firm for nearly five years.
Sources told
The Sunday Times that the process to replace Lyons is underway and that a new chairperson could be in place even before Admiral’s annual meeting in April.
Aside from her current role at Admiral, Court also serves as a business mentor for Merryk & Co. Ltd and a non-executive director at Jardine Lloyd Thompson, according to
Bloomberg. She has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance and technology industries.
Court was appointed CEO of
Direct Line Group in 2001 and later became a member of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s group executive committee. She led the acquisition of
Churchill Insurance, forming RBS Insurance which she headed as CEO. In 2007, she joined
Zurich and later served as head of its European general insurance business.
Court is the only executive so far who has emerged in media reports as the potential successor of Lyons, who revealed his plans to step down about two weeks ago. He said that “it is the right time for me also to handover” following the appointment of David Stevens as Admiral Group CEO in 2016, replacing Henry Engelhardt.
“It has been fantastic to have been on the journey with Admiral since the management buy-out, a journey which I am confident will continue to deliver sustained success,” said Lyons, who has been chairman since June 2000.
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