Specialist insurer Beazley has announced that its chair, David Roberts, will be standing down from the board in autumn 2022.
Roberts will take up the role as Chair of the Court of the Bank of England and will succeed Sir Bradley Fried, who served as Chair from June 2018 to June 2022.
As Chair of the Court, Roberts will be responsible for leadership of the board and ensuring its effectiveness on all aspects of its role.
Prior to Beazley, he was Chair of Nationwide Building Society, Vice Chair of NHS England and Group Deputy Chair of Lloyds Banking Group plc.
In the event that a new chair is not in post, senior independent director, Christine LaSala, will chair the board and the nomination committee on an interim basis.
LaSala has been part of Beazley’s board since 2016, the senior independent director since 2019, and chair of the remuneration committee since 2021.
Whilst the search for a replacement board chair is undertaken, Bob Stuchbery will act as interim senior independent director, and Nicola Hodson as interim chair of the remuneration committee.
LaSala commented: “I would like to thank David Roberts for the important role he has played at Beazley over the past five years, most notably as we faced the challenges of COVID-19 and the transformation of our executive management team.
“In particular, the board would like to thank David for the leadership he has shown in improving diversity and inclusion at Beazley. He leaves us a stronger business with an exciting future.
Beazley is now in the process of selecting a successor and will provide an update in due course, LaSala added.
