CII appoints Aston Lark CEO as president

The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has appointed Aston Lark chief executive officer Peter Blanc as president for 2022.

Blanc leads one of the largest chartered insurance brokers in the UK with more than 1,500 staff across 53 locations in the UK and Ireland. 

He is also non-executive chairman of Hastings Insurance Services, the broker arm of Hastings Direct, and up until recently served as chairman of the Large Brokers’ Advisory Board at the British Insurance Brokers Insurance Association (BIBA).

In the coming months, he will work closely with current CII president and chief executive officer of Aon UK, Julie Page, before taking over as president and chair of the President’s Forum on 1 January 2022.

The CII President’s Forum was created earlier this year to explore new and emerging risks and ways the insurance profession can address the unmet needs of consumers.

Blanc said: “The pandemic has shone a light on how important it is to have insurance solutions that can keep businesses going, so I look forward to becoming president of the CII in 2022 and continuing the professional body’s amazing work to examine ways to close the gap between what consumers expect insurance services to entail and the reality.”

“As a profession it is vital that we get to grips with the cause of the expectation gap and how to better educate consumers around coverage. Having cover in place is essential if our customers are to do and achieve more in the years to come.”

Russell Higginbotham has been appointed to the role of deputy president.

Higginbotham is Swiss Re’s chief executive officer for reinsurance in Asia and regional president.

Now based out of Singapore, he oversees more than 2,000 staff in 11 Asian cities. 

Sian Fisher, chief executive officer of CII, said: “I would like to thank Julie for her excellent, continuing work as president during these challenging times and for her focus on establishing the President’s Forum and ways our profession can address unmet needs.”

“I look forward to working closely with Peter as our new president in 2022 and look forward to working with him on how our profession can adapt, evolve and innovate our products and services in order to maintain the importance and relevance of insurance to the customers it serves.”

Mark Dugdale