CEO Today United Kingdom Awards

www.ceotodaymagazine.com 74 CEO Today United Kingdom Awards 2018 INSURANCE BRENDAN MCMANUS CEO of PIB Group ABOUT BRENDAN MCMANUS Brendan McManus, is celebrating his 40th year in the insurance industry. And three years in at the helm of fast growing PIB Group (‘PIB’), he says he’s ‘having a ball’ while working with great people who strive every day to help make the company a success. Career to date Having originally planned to be a quantity surveyor, Brendan soon turned his talents to insurance, enjoying the technical aspect as well as working with people in the industry. After 28 years at RSA in various roles, including Managing Director of Commercial in 2003, the following five years included positions of CEO of Willis ltd and CEO of Willis UK and Ireland before moving to Giles Insurance Brokers. On completion of the sale of Giles to Arthur J Gallagher, the position as CEO of the UK Retail business was his next natural move. Brendan has also been Honorary Vice President of the CII, Deputy Chairman of BIBA, and past Chair of the Distribution Committee of the ABI. Outside of work, he regularly supports various charities including organisations that care for young children or helping young ex-offenders to find employment following time in prison. His latest career venture has been with PIB Group since July 2015 as an investor and CEO. FIRM PROFILE PIB is a dynamic insurance intermediary group which launched in 2015 to create a leading position in the provision of specialist insurance solutions across the UK market. Principle activities include retail insurance broking, employee benefits, wholesale broking and underwriting agencies. Having secured backing from the Carlyle Group, PIB has experienced rapid organic and acquisitive growth by focussing on businesses, teams and portfolios in niche and specialist markets. At the time of going to print, 18 businesses had already been snapped up by PIB, bringing its headcount to over 1100 across 40 locations in the UK and Channel Islands. The group also climbed ten places to number 18 in the Insurance Times Top 50 Brokers of 2018. Growing up to scale up While building the PIB specialist acquisition pipeline is an ongoing priority, the group is now in its ‘growing up phase’ as the next part of its strategic journey having reached critical mass. This has included hiring two non-executive directors, with one describing PIB as a ‘clever and gamechanging proposition in the broking space’ and on a journey which is ‘quite remarkable and continues at a pace’. According to Brendan, they offer another dimension to the wider leadership team’s intellectual capital and innovation to continue driving PIB forward. ‘Growing up’ also means continuing to invest in integrating all businesses so they operate on modern systems and follow standard enterprise processes and reporting. For example, building a core infrastructure to support common, scalable systems and centralised functions. “This will create significant value in the long term and allow cost efficiencies to be realised. And of course, we are committed to embedding strong governance and controls to navigate the regulatory landscape. It’s all about preparing for the future.” Powered by its people Another priority is recruiting and keeping the best talent, while creating a culture where people want to stay and believe they can thrive. According to Brendan, people are one of the driving forces behind PIB’s success so far. “The quality of our people and maintaining a culture of ownership and entrepreneurial spirit is key. Collaboration is equally important and our network of specialists across the group are now really coming together to provide a breadth of products and services to our customers. If we get all of that right, then everything else is easy.” Looking ahead In addition to PIB’s people, success has been down to thorough planning and ensuring that investments are paying off. “We have pretty much achieved the plan that was written in 2015 and presented to our investors.” So, with the business in good shape, a ten-year growth plan is now underway. Sights are set on an international drive, pursuing opportunities throughout Europe and beyond. What next? There are certainly no plans to slow down for the insurance veteran. “I’m looking forward to planning the next ten years and working through what we need to do as a business to ensure we stay independent, remain attractive to investors and remain attractive to great people in the insurance industry who want to come and work here. It’s been the most exciting thing I’ve done in my career.” CONTACT E: Brendan.McManus@pib-insurance.com W: www.pibgroup.co.uk Follow us on LinkedIn