R&Q Insurance Share News (RQIH)

(Sharecast News) - Non-life legacy insurance investor and capacity provider Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings announced the appointment of William Spiegel as executive director and deputy group chairman on Monday, effective immediately.

The AIM-traded firm said the appointment formed part of its management succession plan, with Spiegel said he would assume the position of executive group chairman when R&Q co-founder, Ken Randall, stepped down in around 12 months, after 29 years at the helm.

He would be based in its New York office, and report to Ken Randall, focussing on the strategic development and expansion of the group as it built on its recent financial performance in the "thriving" legacy and rapidly-growing programme management businesses in the United States and Europe.

There would be a gradual handover of Randall's current responsibilities to Spiegel during 2020.

As a result of his appointment, and to position the group to manage the expected expansion of its business in the US and Europe, R&Q said it was expecting to make a small number of additional appointments, including the appointment of a new group chief financial officer.

There would also be some realignment of internal management reporting lines and responsibilities, it added.

Spiegel was joining R&Q from the US private equity firm Pine Brook, where he was managing partner and which he co-founded in 2006.

He was responsible for managing Pine Brook's financial services investing activities, and was also a member of the firm's investment committee and management committee.

Prior to co-founding Pine Brook, he was with the Cypress Group from its inception in 1994 until 2006, leading its financial services and healthcare investing activities.

Before that, he worked in the Merchant Banking Group at Lehman Brothers.

Spiegel had served on the board of directors of 20 companies, including seven publicly traded corporations, and was currently a member of the Polsky Council of the University of Chicago Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and its Private Equity Council.

In addition to his extensive financial services experience and recognised leadership, Spiegel held a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics, a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Western Ontario, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

"I am delighted to welcome an industry professional of William's calibre to the senior leadership team at R&Q," said executive chairman Ken Randall.

"I have known William and followed his career for many years and I know R&Q will hugely benefit from his expertise in managing and growing leading insurance businesses.

"As our programme management business becomes ever more strategically important, with an expected $1bn per annum of future contracted business during 2020, I am particularly excited by William's expertise in this area and his ability to further build on the division's significant growth potential."

Randall said that, as well as his "unique" sector credentials, Spiegel shared the same vision and values for R&Q and that, combined with his "energetic approach", meant he was ideally suited to take the business forward on the next stage of its "ambitious" growth strategy.

"I am extremely proud of what R&Q has achieved since Alan and I founded the business 29 years ago and attracting William to R&Q is testament to how far the business has come during that time and the unique talent that we have across the firm.

"The business is in good shape, delivering record profitable growth and progressing with our objective of becoming the leading provider of legacy and program management solutions, but there is so much more to be achieved and now is the right time for me to start handing over the reins to R&Q's future leadership.

"I look forward to working with William and the team over the course of 2020 as the transition takes place."

William Spiegel himself added that it was a "huge honour" to be given the opportunity, adding he was looking forward to applying his 30 years of experience to R&Q.

"I have built my career on growing financial services companies in the US and the UK with a particular emphasis on insurance and insurance services.

"Under Ken and Alan's leadership R&Q has undergone a significant transformation in the last few years and it has focussed on two of the fastest growing and most interesting areas of insurance.

"It will be my priority to continue to deliver profitable growth and build on R&Q's tremendous success."

At 1057 GMT, shares in Randall & Quilter Investment Holding were up 0.85% at 179p.