McLarens appoints Smart to new global leadership role, Wallace to lead UK business in growth move

Global loss adjuster McLarens has appointed Graham Smart to the newly created global role of chief commercial officer, as it looks to ramp up its strategic growth plans and expand its service offerings.

In this new position, Smart will work closely with McLarens chief executive officer Gary Brown and the firm’s global management team. He will manage relationships with McLarens’ key global clients and will lead the firm’s proposition with blue chip account business.

Smart, who has served as the firm’s managing director in the UK and Europe for more than five years, will continue in his client service capacity. He will also play an active role in identifying, integrating and anticipating client needs from a holistic perspective. Working with internal business partners in technology and operations, as well as regional and specialty practice leaders around the globe, Smart will drive innovation and the development of expanded product offerings, as well as enhanced technology, systems and processes to meet the needs of the market.

As Smart assumes his new position, Steven Wallace has been appointed managing director of UK & Ireland, responsible for overseeing a network of 18 offices across the region.

Finally, Chris Panes, chief operating officer EMEA region, who joined the business in 2016, will take direct responsibility for McLarens’ European business which, last year, expanded its footprint with a tri-partite alliance with two European adjusting firms - Polyexpert, a major French adjusting business, and IES, a market leader in Italy, Poland, Romania and Turkey.

“As one of the largest insurance services firms in the world, with an ambitious international growth agenda, we recognise the need to have a leader with a strategic global perspective to focus on comprehensive commercial initiatives," said Brown. "We see a real opportunity to offer our customers an enhanced experience by providing a more seamless, integrated solutions strategy, which includes exploring opportunities to strengthen our traditional core services, as well as pursuing synergies in tangential markets.

"Graham and I have been discussing this position for years, and as we have ramped-up our strategic growth plan and continue to look for ways to strengthen partnerships with our clients, the timing is right to centralise our leadership efforts in this Global Commercial Officer role."

Smart commented: “The market is undergoing significant change through disruption as technologies and new solutions emerge, yet there is a greater than ever desire for global market-leading loss adjusting and ancillary services. We are extremely well placed to take advantage of the opportunities to broaden our service portfolio and partner with clients in new ways. I am looking forward to working with Gary to set and support our strategic growth plans.”

Wallace said: “As our UK and Ireland business has evolved, we’ve continually enhanced and refined our proposition, investing heavily in infrastructure, strategic recruitment and building out our specialist practices and, under Graham’s leadership, we have created a strong platform to take the business to the next level. Given the market consolidation and continued appetite for specialist, practitioner-led adjusting, considerable opportunities exist, and the UK Executive Team is actively working to shape our business for future growth in this hugely exciting time to be taking on the role. We have a fantastic UK and Ireland team, which I am immensely proud to lead.”

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