Howden has appointed Peter Murphy as chief operating officer of its enlarged employee benefits business, giving him responsibility for a UK operation spanning 2,600 colleagues.
The appointment, effective from 1 September, follows the integration of Barnett Waddingham and other recently acquired businesses into Howden Employee Benefits.
Murphy (pictured) has been chief operating officer of Howden’s employee benefits division for the past six years. His expanded remit now covers Howden’s existing employee benefits operation alongside teams acquired through Barnett Waddingham, the employee benefits consultancy arm of Evelyn Partners and Hymans Robertson’s Insurance and Financial Services Consulting Team.
Howden said its employee benefits division now employs around 4,000 people across 40 countries and generates combined revenues of more than £500 million.
In his enlarged role, Murphy will oversee operational delivery and technology-led transformation across the combined business, including work to develop a common operating platform supporting its UK and international operations.
Before joining Howden, Murphy spent 15 years at WTW in client-facing, operational and transformation roles.
The appointment follows several additions to the Howden Employee Benefits senior leadership team during the past year. Carla Hammond joined as chief financial officer from Jones Lang LaSalle, Rob Byett became chief risk officer after moving from Hargreaves Lansdown, while Andy Samuel joined from Ardonagh Advisory as global chief technology officer.
Glenn Thomas, chief executive and global practice leader – health and employee benefits, said: “Employee benefits is one of the fastest growing parts of Howden, and in the UK, we have built a business that can compete with anyone.
“Peter has been central to that. Asking him to take on the combined business reflects both the scale of what we have created and our confidence in him to run it.
“We have deliberately built out the senior leadership team over the past year to match that ambition, bringing in real strength and hard-won experience from outside our sector as well as within it.
“Howden Group has set out its 30/30 vision to become a £10 billion business by 2030. Employee benefits will be a significant part of delivering that, and Peter’s role is central to making sure we have the operational foundations to get there.”
Murphy said: “This business has changed enormously in a short space of time, and that is exactly why this new role matters now. My focus is on making sure the operational, technology and data foundations match the ambition.
“In practice that means stronger connectivity across our systems and processes, better use of the data we hold and simpler ways of working across teams. Get that right and clients feel it in the quality and consistency of what we deliver, and colleagues feel it every day.”
