New AMII Executive Chairman Appointed

David Middleton has been appointed as the new Executive Chairman of the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII).

He was elected at the Association’s AGM yesterday (Thursday), replacing Stuart Scullion who announced last month that he was stepping from the role after six years at the helm.

David was CEO of Employment Benefit Consultancy, Portus, until the sale to Aon in 2017 after which he integrated both clients and colleagues into Aon.

During his time at Portus, David sat on the committees of both GRiD and AMII, the former as Chair of the ‘Raising the Profile’ Committee and he has a strong interest in developing AMII’s education and training offering to members.

He told the online AGM: “I was particularly proud that during my Chairmanship we developed the GRiD training academy which is still going strong. I believe that strong industry bodies are vital for the future of our industry and think that we should look at how we develop and train the next generation of AMII membership.”

David has subsequently taken on roles as Executive Director of Benefits Advisory Services (BAS) and as a Consultant at CWB – both in the EB space – and is also a Trustee of charities Smile for Joel and Sporting Minds UK.

In calling for a more integrated approach to the PMI offering in a post-pandemic environment, he said: “Mental health and wellbeing are top of most of our clients’ objectives. I am currently a trustee of a mental health charity that supports athletes and I have been staggered by the amount of young people seeking help particularly in the last 12 months.

“Yet as an industry in both healthcare and risk we are still very much working in silos and are still product driven. We really need to work more closely as physical, financial, mental, and social wellbeing cannot and should not be treated separately.”

David takes on his role after an unprecedented year where the PMI industry has had to respond to the wide-ranging impact of a global pandemic and a new post-Brexit reality. In praising the response of the industry to COVID-19, David said: “We have all had to find ways to engage with our customers whoever they are and on the whole I think the industry has done this well and shown itself to be flexible and innovative.

“Insurers have responded well, with a willingness to help and support Intermediaries and the end customer, with telemedicine and additional support services. It is also commendable that PMI insurers made a pledge to not profit from the pandemic and some have already made appropriate premium refunds to clients in this respect.”

After thanking Stuart Scullion for his leadership and major contribution to the development of AMII over the last six years, David outlined a consultative approach to creating extra value in AMII membership.

He added: “It is testament to the good work of the everyone concerned that AMII now has a healthy cash position, and this must continue to be an objective by engaging further with you our existing members to retain your membership and attracting new ones from all sides.

“To do this we need to continue to be the voice of the industry, lobby parliament and the regulator as together we are a force that can drive innovation and improvement in all that we do and are involved in.”

A video of thanks and appreciation for the role Stuart Scullion has played in developing AMII over the last six years was played at the virtual AGM, which heard that the Association now has 108 intermediate members and six corporate members.

Alongside the election of David Middleton as new Executive Chairman, six new members were also elected to the Executive Committee.