Key people
See the people behind the group.
Benny Higgins
Group Chairman
Kevin Spencer
Group CEO
Kevin is the founder and majority shareholder of Markerstudy Group. He spent his early days with a small provincial broker, then became an Agency Consultant and later, the Managing Director of Lloyd's broker Edgar Hamilton and Wellard. Kevin considers the creation of Markerstudy Group to be his proudest achievement.
Gary Humphreys
Group Chief Underwriting Officer
Gary is the second largest shareholder and joint founder of Markerstudy Group. After a career in underwriting in the Lloyd’s market, he joined forces with Kevin Spencer in 1997 to establish the MGA that became Markerstudy. Gary continues to head up the insurance operations, as well as contributing to the development of other companies within the Group.
Keith Barber
Group Chief Financial Officer
With a first class degree in Economics and Business Economics at Southampton University, Keith qualified as a Chartered Accountant and took positions in Ernst and Young and KPMG. Following various Financial Controller roles within Equity Group, he joined the board of Markerstudy Group in 2005, and is a shareholder. Keith is now responsible for overseeing the divisions of Finance, Legal, Risk and Compliance.
Chris Payne
Group General Counsel and Company Secretary
Chris worked in the motor, pharmaceutical, gaming and betting sectors before being headhunted by Markerstudy to establish the Group Legal department.
Lizzie Smith-Foreman
Director of Group Marketing & Communications
Following a Masters degree in Marketing, Lizzie’s career path lead her to insurance, firstly with Denplan (part of AXA) and then Groupama Insurances. Joining Markerstudy in 2010 and building her department, she is responsible for keeping pace with the rapidly expanding needs of the business.
Martin Wills
Managing Director
Martin trained as a building services engineer and co-founded Vision with Tony Copeland in 1995. He handles all operations within the company, including logistics and claims.
Michael Brittain
Finance Director Group Services
With over 25 years' experience in senior finance and accounting positions, Michael joined Markerstudy in March 2006 and has been involved in all stages of the group’s growth, including playing an active role in all acquisitions.
Steve Cross
Group Head of Claims
Steve has held senior positions at MT Motor Policies, Link Insurance and GHL Insurance Services. He now has overall responsibility for all group claims activity.
Amanda Fox
Head of Broker Management and Product Governance
Tanya Gerrard-White
Director of HR & Talent Development
Formerly a recruiter in London and the US, Tanya set up her own business and Markerstudy became a client. She now heads up the ‘people’ parts of the group.
Gary Hueting
MISL Chief Underwriting Officer
Elaine Fell
Insurance Accounts Controller
Tim Marsden
Head of MI & Analytics
Graham Partlow
Head of Group Projects
With over 30 years' experience in service roles, specifically contact centres, Graham joined Markerstudy in December 2014 as Group Contact Centre Manager, and transferred to Head of Group Projects in 2016.
James MacBeth
Managing Director
With a background in the motor trade industry, James joined Auto Windscreens in April 1992 and now enjoys an encyclopaedic knowledge of all facets of the business. He was promoted to Managing Director in 2019.
Barnes Atkinson
Group Head of Transformational Change
Richard Morley
Broking Director, Markerstudy Broking
Gaining a wealth of knowledge in classic car and motorbike insurance, along with call centre management, Sureterm Direct beckoned, and in 2012 Richard headed up Operations. Following a restructure, he is now Operations Director for the Markerstudy Broking division.
Ross Barrington
Managing Director
Ross was Director of Telematics at Capita when Markerstudy acquired the businesses of BDML Connect, Lancaster Insurance and Sureterm Direct in 2013. He was appointed Managing Director of Markerstudy Broking, formerly Markerstudy Retail Group in 2017 following his role as Divisional Head of Retail in 2016.
Simon Marsh
CEO of Vision Track
At 17, Simon started a logistics business, soon operating a fleet of 200 vehicles. After firsthand experience of unpleasant road incidents, he progressed to in-vehicle safety technology. This passion continues in his current role of founder and MD of VisionTrack.
Adam Miller
Group Head of IT
Adam joined Markerstudy in January 2015 as Deputy Head of IT with 20 years’ IT experience in the insurance industry. During this period, Adam has been instrumental in leading the operational IT teams who deliver the core systems and services that underpin all of the group businesses. Adam received promotion to the position of Group Head of IT in July 2018.
Ann Pelaez
Head of Operational Performance
Steve Smith
MGA – Head of Finance
Will James
Head of Technical Underwriting
Simon Hughes
Group Head of Data & Analytics
Mark Pratt
Head of Motor Claims Service and Supply
Colin Tester
Head of Risk
Alex Bourne
Head of Compliance
Martyn Green
Chief Actuary
Timeline
Markerstudy Group has grown rapidly since being established in 2001. Find out about our incredible journey...
Awards
Markerstudy Group is proud to be an award-winning organisation. We believe our success stems from our commitment to ‘putting the fun’ into business wherever possible to benefit our customers, employees or members of the community.
Our brands
We’re a cohesive group, from insurance, to windscreen repair and vehicle hire. Find out more about our brands.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Named an ‘Extraordinary company to work for’ by Best Companies for five consecutive years, and listed fourth place in The Sunday Times 30 Big Best Companies to Work For 2017, Markerstudy Group and its employees are passionate about ‘giving something back’. Our clear vision, ‘V10’ values and ‘Motiv8’ committee represent a ‘promise’ that we will promote fairness and integrity in customer service, prioritise the wellbeing of our staff and support them in their community and charity fundraising activities, provide positive employment opportunities, encourage green initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint and promote safe driving for the next generation.
As the Government continues to ease lockdown measures and in readiness for more of our teams to return to our offices when authorisation is given, our Group Health, Safety and Environment team has produced a risk assessment guidelines document to support the 'back to work' processes.
You can view the Back to Work Risk Assessment document here.
Solvency and Financial Condition Report
Gender Pay Gap Report