Select & Protect’s parent company Hood Group has appointed Sarah Smith to the newly created role of head of residential Property.

Smooth (pictured) will be responsible for the leadership and management of the group’s residential property lines of business which includes Select & Protect’s range of household, landlords and renters insurance.

Her remit will be managing the overall execution of vision and distribution strategy to achieve growth and revenue targets, working across the group’s business functions on all areas of delivery.

Smith joins the group from AXA UK where she was development underwriting manager, household, for the past two years. Her insurance career spans more than 20 years and includes senior underwriting roles at Travelers and Aviva.

Bruce Reid, Select & Protect commercial director, said: “I am delighted to welcome Sarah to our group. Her wealth of knowledge and experience demonstrates a firm grasp of the profitability drivers in household products as well as a deep understanding of the challenges associated with underwriting and pricing.

“She has a proven track record of successfully creating ideas, building a strategy and delivering against the plan. I’m confident that she will be an incredibly valuable addition to our team as we look to further develop our proposition for residential property.”