Davies appoints CEO & CCO of its legal solutions business Keoghs

Davies, a professional services and technology business serving the insurance industry, has made two key appointments to its legal solutions business, Keoghs. Allison Carr is promoted to CEO and Gary Fitzpatrick to chief commercial officer. Current CEO John Whittle will retire from the business after 30 years of dedicated service, with 15 of those as CEO, having led the deal that saw Keoghs join Davies in March 2020.

Allison Carr joined Keoghs as a solicitor in 2002 and has held various senior operational and leadership roles in the firm, most recently as COO. In this role, Allison, with support from her wider team, has been responsible for scaling the legal solutions business to over 1700 people, supporting a number of acquisitions and building out a leading UK wide presence. Allison will join Davies group executive committee and report directly to group CEO Dan Saulter.

In his new role Gary Fitzpatrick will focus on bringing together the commercial, client service and growth strategy for Keoghs, including working with colleagues across Davies to deliver end‐to‐end solutions. Fitzpatrick, who has more than 20 years’ service at Keoghs, in various senior executive roles, has played a key role delivering Keoghs’ long‐ term growth strategy. Fitzpatrick also leads the relationship with some of Davies’ largest clients.

Over the course of 2021 Davies has announce a string of senior hires including: Emma Wedderburn as group chief HR Officer, Dene Rowe as group chief marketing officer and Darren Coombes as group deputy chairman in a move to further strengthen its global leadership team as it continues its expansion and investment in technology and innovation.

Early this month the firm announced a new shareholder, with BC Partners taking a majority stake in the business, to support Davies’ next phase of international expansion and continued digital transformation.

Dan Saulter, Group CEO commented: “I congratulate Allison and Gary on their well‐deserved promotions. We are ambitious to continue to grow our legal solutions business in the UK, but also overseas. I look forward to working closely with Allison and Gary in the years ahead as we execute on our plans. I am also thrilled that once again we’ve been able to promote internally; investing in our people and giving them opportunities for career development is central to our success.

“I’d like to thank John for his achievements at Keoghs. Under his direction and leadership over 15 years he has built a remarkable business filled with industry experts, providing market leading legal solutions to the insurance market. I wish him all the very best with his retirement and for his future plans.”

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