This week's appointments cover operational leadership at one of the UK's largest personal lines groups and a new specialist bloodstock account at a London managing general agent (MGA).
Markerstudy Group has appointed Laura Walker (pictured, left) as group chief operating officer, subject to regulatory approval. She reports to group chief executive Kevin Spencer.
Walker joined Markerstudy when it acquired Atlanta Group in 2024. She served as strategic change director, reporting to Emma Rawlinson. She previously held senior roles at Danaher and General Electric.
The new role brings together the group’s core operational functions. Walker said her focus would be on supporting coherence across the group and developing its governance framework, having spent the past two years working on integration and change strategy.
“She is an experienced and highly effective leader, with proven ability in developing large-scale, multi-disciplinary teams and delivering strategic outcomes,” said Spencer.
The Atlanta deal, which completed in June 2024, added around £1 billion of premium and more than 2,000 staff. Brands including Swinton and Carole Nash joined the group. Markerstudy has since restructured its broking arm, creating a dedicated retail division. The combined group transacts around £3 billion of gross written premium a year and employs around 7,300 people.
Markerstudy’s MGA arm is one of the biggest providers of personal lines capacity to UK brokers. Pulling operations under a single COO with an integration background points to a push for consistency across the group, which may affect service standards and processes for brokers who trade with it.
Specialty MGA, part of MNK Group, has appointed David Higgins (pictured, right) as senior underwriter for bloodstock, to build a global bloodstock portfolio from London.
Higgins has more than 40 years of underwriting experience in bloodstock and aviation. He previously led the bloodstock unit at Novae Underwriting, then oversaw its transfer to Castel, where he managed underwriting and the business plan. He later returned to Castel as a consultant. He is a former member of the Lloyd’s aviation and bloodstock committees.
The account will initially provide additional capacity for high-value stallions, before expanding into racehorses, broodmares, major stud farms and high-value sport horses. It will focus on Australasia, the US, the UK and Europe.
“The bloodstock market continues to present significant opportunities, particularly for high-value risks where demand for capacity remains strong,” said Higgins.
Manoj Kumar, chairman of MNK Group, said Higgins’s technical knowledge would help broaden the MGA’s specialist capabilities.
Bloodstock is a niche market where capacity for the highest-value animals can be hard to fill. New capacity for stallions, backed by an underwriter with long-standing international broker relationships, gives bloodstock brokers another option for completing large placements.
