Lloyd’s veteran accepts Rokstone role after turning down several offers

Rokstone, the speciality re/insurance MGA and part of the Aventum Group, has managed to persuade a Lloyd’s and London market veteran with 35 years of experience to join its board. The executive, formerly  CEO of Novae Syndicates before its sale to AXIS, is said to have turned down a “fair share of offers in the past to take up NED roles”.

Jonathan Butcher has agreed to join Rokstone as its first non-executive director (NED).

Butcher was latterly CEO and before that underwriting director at Novae Syndicates, and joined the board of the Lloyd’s Market Association in 2015. He spent 14 years at Novae and before that spent 13 years at Lloyd’s and 11 years at the Sturge Group in a variety of senior underwriting roles across multiple classes with a focus on property & casualty. Butcher was CEO at Novae Syndicates when it was sold to AXIS in 2017 for in excess of $600 million and led the Syndicate through that process.

James Potter, CEO of Rokstone, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Jonathan on board as a Non-Executive Director. He has a strong and illustrious underwriting background and business development track record. We will benefit greatly from his knowledge, experience and independent insight. He will be a highly capable guiding influence during a period of sustained fast growth for our Group.”

Butcher commented: “I’ve had my fair share of offers in the past to take up NED roles and have turned them down, but in Rokstone I see the clear potential and areas where I know I will add value both in terms of my network and operations.

“ Rokstone and its parent company Aventum is fast growing and ambitious and is overt in that ambition.  I’ll be helping them to steer Rokstone – ensuring that vital broker engagement, systems and operations all keep pace with growth.  Importantly I like the people too – an asset not to be underestimated, and I’m really looking forward to joining them on what promises to be an exciting journey.”

Rokstone claims that it is ahead of its targets to become one of the largest re/insurance specialty MGAs globally.  It currently underwrites $750 million GWP in several specialty lines including marine, terrorism & political violence, direct & facultative property, treaty property, construction & engineering and liability. The combined operations of Aventum now control over $1.1 billion GWP.

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