About Tim Kershaw - Founder & Chief Mentor

Tim is married with four children – two of each.  He lives in rural Suffolk in the East of England and he runs the business from there.

Prior to this, Tim had 40 years’ experience working in the London (and global) insurance markets as a senior leader and seasoned Chief Operating Officer (COO). Over the years he led several large operations teams at both broking and (re)insurance firms with global footprints. Working across several disciplines and classes of business for both high performing ‘business as usual’ operations and oftentimes during significant change initiatives. From sales and marketing initiatives in the ‘front office’, through to claims and post-placement/bind operations in the back office and most recently by leading Middle Office operations.

He has been:

• party to several different mergers and acquisitions and played active roles in the resultant integration streams and oversight

• a key part of many significant target operating model and organisation design changes

• involved in many technology implementations, oftentimes at Steering Group level and as a business ‘sponsor’

• actively involved in successful ‘offshoring’ initiatives to Malaysia, India, and Poland and a key supporter of the resultant and symbiotic working relations between the onshore and offshore teams

• fortunate to travel the globe during his career, which has made him a culturally aware leader

• party to the introduction of Key Performance Indicators and other business metrics that support performance management in environments that value continuous improvement

• an advocate for innovation and a supporter of the digital opportunities that are increasingly becoming available. He is a pragmatist who has 'been there and done it' - a respecter of legacy, but not limited by it (Let’s Do More Than Create Faster Horses - Insurance Thought Leadership)

• an active member of many Boards, Excos, Steering Groups, Advisory Committees, Governance Committees and Management Committees as well as a member of colleague resource groups

• an active supporter of many D&I initiatives - he’s someone who prefers to ‘walk the walk’ and actively engage as a vocal and visible ally for the sometimes marginalised

As more and more firms will have ethnicity targets at board level, they want to evidence ethnic diversity at senior levels and gain all the benefits that come from having diverse leadership teams.  The pool is still small and there is an inability to attract ethnically diverse talent and then retain/develop them into senior leaders. Tim has a somewhat unique and valuable track record in mentoring ethnic minorities and can evidence their development, growth, and actual career progression, both in the UK and overseas. 

Tim has had the privilege of working with and for many of the most high-profile individuals in the marketplace we know today.  He has seen first-hand how these innovators and entrepreneurs operate and set clear strategies.  Above all, Tim is by nature ‘people-centric’ and always puts people at the heart of his work.   He thrives in, and values, team environments and is a very authentic leader.  He has built and then led many high-performing teams throughout his career and has grown a large network of key individuals during his working life. Tim is also an adviser to the Affinity Initiative and a member of both Association of British Mentors and the Camelot Network - links can be found under the ‘Things we Like’ section on the home page.

“People are my passion” is an easy cliché, but it is one that Tim naturally lives and is recognised for by many colleagues over many years. For a more detailed view of Tim’s experience please refer to his LinkedIn profile.