Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based CIO’ operating in the Insurance space. If you think a CIO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Ian Penny
Chief Information Officer of Hiscox
Ian Penny is a member of the Turbonomic Board of Directors. As Chief Information Officer at Hiscox, he is responsible for the Group’s IT, leading a team of 300 and reporting to the CEO. Ian Penny is a visionary IT leader and strategist with a wealth of global, blue-chip experience. He brings expertise in leading all aspects of IT including strategy, development, engineering, operations and program execution. Prior to Hiscox, Ian Penny was the Chief Technology Officer at Barclays, where he was responsible for IT infrastructure development and led cloud computing initiatives. During this time, he also served on the RedHat Product Advisory Board. Before that, he was Managing Director of Engineering and Architecture at JPMorgan, designing platforms for risk analytics, cloud development, and high-volume customer channels. He also has multiple experiences as a Turbonomic customer, trusting workload automation to drive greater efficiencies and accelerate digital transformation initiatives at Hiscox, in addition to his time with Barclays and JPMorgan. Ian Penny holds a Bachelor of Science, with honors, in Computer Science from the University of Kent. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and has worked extensively with the Venture Capital and startup community to build applied technology solutions. Ian Penny began his career as a distributed systems research scientist funded by the UK Government and has published papers on parallel computing and low latency networking.
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About Hiscox: Hiscox is an insurer, offering property and casualty insurance aimed at companies and high-net-worth individuals.
Robert Duncan
Chief Information Security Officer of Direct Line Insurance
Robert Duncan has been Chief Information Security Officer for Direct Line Group since December 2015. Direct Line Group is a FTSE 100 firm that is the UK’s largest retail general insurer, owning brands such as Direct Line Churchill and Green Flag. I am responsible for Cyber Security as well as Technology Risk teams. Prior to this Robert was the Chief Information Security Officer for Euronext, where Robert was responsible for overall Information Security Strategy along with the oversight of various core teams: Threat and Vulnerability Management, Security Architecture, Application Security, Security Operations, and Security Awareness, as well as managing the relationship with the five core European regulators in respect to the firm’s security posture. Robert has extensive international experience, having been based in New York, London, Hong Kong, and Australia. Prior to this he worked for ANZ Bank in Melbourne, Australia, where he was responsible for Technology Risk and Security for their International Global Markets division. He was also Head of Global Risk and Governance for Prudential plc PGDS division for many years, supporting the division globally with extensive travel of Asia and the USA. He holds an LLB in Law (London), MBA (Cranfield), and a post graduate qualification in Executive IT Management from Columbia University in New York.
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About Direct Line Insurance: Direct Line Group is an organization with a clear mission: to make insurance much easier and better value for customers.
Anthony Woolley
UK CIO of Societe Generale
Anthony Woolley was appointed Head of Innovation for the UK, Societe Generale in September 2017. He previously served for 4 years as the UK Chief Information Officer for the bank and has over 20 years of management experience delivering technology solutions to the Corporate and Investment Banking Industry.
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About Global Digital Finance, Ownera, Societe Generale: Societe Generale is a French multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Paris, France.
Peter Finch
Group CIO of Trak Global Group
An insurance IT systems specialist. After leaving the NHS, Peter spent 6 years at Carole Nash, the UK’s leading motorbike insurance broker, building and maintaining systems that managed 250,000 policies. Peter has worked with all of the major insurance administration platforms.
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About Trak Global Group: Trak Global Group provides its partners with the very latest in technology to enable and support telematics insurance propositions.
Simon Legg
Chief Information Security Officer of Hastings Direct
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About Hastings Direct: Hastings Direct is a general insurance provider.
Dan Fiehn
Group IT Director / CIO of Markerstudy Group
With over 20 year’s experience in insurance and IT, Dan Fiehn has full responsibility for all IT at the Markerstudy Group. Since joining Markerstudy in 2010, Dan has revolutionised the daily operations of the IT department, enabling the rapid growth of the business, increasing from 500 in 2011 to over 4000 staff in 2015, based all over the UK. His role at Markerstudy Group, as a leader and strategist, puts him at the cutting edge of driving transformational change in order to make a positive lasting difference, underpinning the growth of the Group. His team have achieved recognition and numerous industry awards as a result of successfully implementing big data and insurer-hosted rating hub initiatives, establishing a new capability for the business to transform its operational efficiency.
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About Markerstudy Group: Markerstudy Group is an energetic and innovative company.
