Rokstone’s iFarm nabs underwriting specialists from Marsh and Geo

Rokstone has hired two senior farm underwriting specialists from  Marsh and Geo for its farm and agriculture specialist iFarm Underwriting.

The new hires will help drive underwriting strategy and transform its digital underwriting capabilities.

Lee Ellis (Pictured) , a senior specialist in farm and agriculture underwriting, has been recruited to the group from Geo Underwriting where he was senior product manager for three years, managing its agricultural and SME products. Prior to Geo, Ellis spent eight years at Rural Insurance and 12 years at Direct Line.

Also joining the iFarm team as a senior underwriter is Jade Henry, bringing with her more than 10 years’ experience in both broking and underwriting with specific specialist experience of agricultural risks at Marsh Commercial, AXA and Rural Insurance. Henry will work within the Farm team as part of a 20 strong unit of specialist farm and farm motor underwriters.

iFarm has also promoted Adam Mawer to underwriting manager. Previously development underwriter at iFarm and with 15 years’ experience in the market, Mawer was agricultural propositions manager at Zurich and prior to that was at NFU Mutual for seven years. He has specialised in commercial, farm and estate, large fleet and high net worth insurance. In his new role, Mawer will manage the farm portfolio and lead the iFarm team to profitably grow the book.

The iFarm team is working closely with Gavin Dollings, chief underwriting officer at Rokstone and his team, supported by advanced actuarial tools in the market, to develop and improve iFarm’s digital underwriting for optimal performance. iFarm also offers brokers Aventum Group’s in-house valuations service, Securus, to provide accurate valuations to avoid the risks of underinsurance.

Dollings commented: “Building on the success of iFarm’s already award winning quote and bind product suite for farms and agricultural businesses, we‘ll be addressing how we can further utilise data analytics to support our brokers. Inflation will have a dramatic impact on most farm businesses so we’ll be enhancing the products and pricing capabilities with digital tools that allow us to make more segmented pricing decisions based on granular data. This sophisticated level of segmentation will lead to more accurate pricing and give iFarm’s broker partners maximum flexibility to remain competitive whilst securing the best cover for their clients.  Market leading farm underwriting expertise, combined with access to capacity across Rokstone’s 30+ panel of A rated carriers, sophisticated surveying and digital underwriting tools and award-winning products, will firmly position iFarm as a leader in the market for agricultural risks.”

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.