MGAA appoints new managing director from Qlaims

The Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) has appointed Mike Keating as its new managing director, effective September 2020.

Keating joins from Qlaims where he was chief development officer. During his near 30-year career in the insurance industry he has held senior leadership roles in a number of personal and commercial lines managing general agent businesses, including UK General and One Commercial (part of Primary Group) and is a former managing director of Intermediary & Partnerships at AXA Personal Lines. While working at UK General, he served as an MGAA board member.

Keating replaces Peter Staddon, who is retiring in August. Staddon will continue to work at the association on a part-time basis until Keating joins to ensure an orderly handover.

In his new role, Keating will be responsible for the continuing growth of the Association’s membership and increasing the levels of engagement with insurers and brokers. He will also be focused on ensuring the needs of MGAs are understood and being met with a broader range of membership benefits to support their growth.

Charles Manchester, chair of the MGAA, said: “Mike’s understanding of the operational challenges MGAs face in building and sustaining a business in today’s market will be of real benefit to our members.

“The speciality lines sector faces capacity challenges, a continual hardening of the rating environment and the impact of COVID-19. Mike’s background in the insurer and broking management areas will be equally as important to us as we work to develop our capacity provider and broker relationships to create mutual opportunities for all parties.”

Keating commented: “I’m delighted to be joining the Association at a time when the industry looks to tackle the challenges which were prevalent before the COVID19 crisis and those which have emerged over the last three months. MGAs have a continuing key role to play in delivering underwriting value to capacity providers as well as offering relevant products to meet the needs of their distribution partners.

“The Association will strive to ensure all the necessary support, engagement and tools are available for MGAs to meet these challenges both now and in the future.”