BMS poaches from Aon/Gallagher for Australian financial lines expansion

Specialist re/insurance broker  BMS has made two senior hires from Gallagher and Aon as it looks to expand its financial lines business in Australia.

Guy Van Dugteren (pictured left) joins as national claims and technical manager, financial lines in Australia. Andrew McKenzie  (pictured right) joins as head of financial lines for the Northern region in Australia.

Van Dugteren and McKenzie are based in Brisbane and report to Stuart Davies, head of financial lines at BMS Australia.

Van Dugteren will lead BMS’s Australian financial lines claims and technical function and brings with him more than 15 years’ experience as an admitted insurance lawyer. Prior to joining BMS, Van Dugteren worked at Gallagher, where he held the role of manager, national technical claims. Before that, he served as a solicitor at Colin Biggers & Paisley, where he gained experience in corporate governance, D&O risk advisory services, insurance policy advisory services, construction disputes, claims management audits and professional indemnity claims.

McKenzie joins BMS in Australia from his most recent role as director of specialties at Aon, where he also led Aon’s Financial Services Group (FSG). He has more than 25 years’ experience in the insurance sector. Prior to his 19 years at Aon, he was the specialty insurance lines leader at Marsh for eight years.

Andrew Godden, CEO of BMS Australia, said: “At BMS we have developed an end-to-end Financial Lines service function which delivers technical excellence to our clients at all stages of the insurance lifecycle. We are proud to say that our integrated Financial Lines team offers our clients an unparalleled level of expertise in the sector. I am delighted that we are continuing to build out this area of our business with outstanding talent such as Andrew and Guy.”

Davies added: “Guy’s technical legal skills will be key to enhancing our marketing and risk management expertise as brokers and Andrew’s extensive client and placement experience will be a significant boost to our financial lines business. It’s great to officially welcome Andrew to the team and to announce Guy’s appointment, I look forward to working with them both.”

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