Digital Insurance Collective

Bea Montoya, Digital Marketing Director at Simply Business, is focused on spreading the word of Simply Business to the UK’s small business and landlord community through customer-focused and data-driven marketing. Bea is responsible for innovation across our marketing strategies, with data, technology and personalisation at the core.

Since joining in 2015, Bea’s successfully integrated key technologies and introduced agile methodologies to the marketing team. As a member of the Exec team, Bea is also a key driver of Simply Business’ award-winning culture, ensuring we're always working in an open, collaborative environment and championing diversity

Before Simply Business, Bea spent time at Euromoney, in their London, New York and Paris offices, and more recently, she was Time Inc.’s Consumer Marketing Director.

You can learn more about Simply Business by visiting their website, or getting in touch on Twitter @simplybusiness. Connect with Bea on Twitter @beatrizmontoya, and on Linkedin at www.linkedin.com/in/beatrizmontoya.

Shortly after graduating from St Andrews University with an MA (Hons) in Management Studies and International Relations in 1989 I entered the reinsurance market with the niche firm, Greig Fester, renowned for its training and technical excellence. There I gained my ACII (Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute) in 1994, and was fortunate to specialise in the relatively glamorous world of Treaty Reinsurance.

In May 1997 I joined Hiscox, and through a mix of good luck and good timing was instrumental in growing the non-marine treaty portfolio from less than £20m to more than £250m.  This growth was under-pinned by meaningful investment in risk and portfolio modelling tools, and some smart people who knew how to use them. In 2001 I became manager of Hiscox’s Global Markets Reinsurance Division, and was instrumental in the creation of Hiscox Re in Bermuda in 2005.  I was fortunate to preside over a longer period of continued growth and profitability for the reinsurance account, and gradually became more involved with broader Syndicate strategy. In 2009 I was made Managing Director of the newly formed Hiscox London Market Division, responsible for all of the Syndicate’s London Market insurance and reinsurance underwriting, and named as Active Underwriter of Syndicate 33.  Specialty insurance lines included Property, Terrorism, Marine Hull/War/Liability/Energy, Personal Accident, Kidnap and Ransom, Political Risk, D&O, E&O, Fine Art, Aviation and Space. Whilst I also remained head of Hiscox’s London Market Reinsurance Division much more of my time was spent on planning and day-to-day management of the almost £1bn insurance portfolio and its 200 staff, of whom around 65 were underwriters.

After more than 20 years working in the Lloyd’s market I took an extended sabbatical from the (re-)insurance world in 2013. I enjoyed some wonderful time pursuing personal interests, and getting stuck into family life, as well as acquiring a Graduate Diploma in Law.  In late 2016 I was delighted to be a Founding Investor in Kinsu, sharing with Founder and CEO Chris Sharpe a conviction that there was room for a more human kind of insurance, people-powered and with community at its heart.

Bretton Putter is the founder & CEO of CultureGene, a company culture consultancy helping early stage and high-growth technology companies to prepare for and execute at rapid scale. Prior to founding CultureGene, Bretton spent 16 years as the Managing Partner of a leading executive search firm where he successfully helped over 400 startup and high-growth companies expand their senior management teams in the UK, across the EU and US. Bretton is publishing two book in 2018, Culture Decks Decoded and The Culture Gene: Leadership and Culture Development Lessons from High-growth Companies. Bretton is a member of the board of co-working space provider Runway East and is an investor in Seedcamp funds I,II, II & IV. 

Charmian co-founded Volans, a change agency, in 2008 with John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan. Volans was the second UK company to certify as a B Corp – and in 2015 she went on to start B Lab UK with fellow entrepreneur, James Perry, where she continues to support the growth of the global B Corp movement. In addition to her role as Chair of B Lab UK, Charmian also sits the board of B Team UK, is a member of the Sustainability Advisory Council at the ICAEW (because she also believes that accountants will save the world) and recently joined LWARB’s Investment Committee.

In her new role as Entrepreneur in Residence and Special Advisor to the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Charmian is focused on creating spaces for students interested in using new tools and business models to solve the world’s most complex challenges. She is also guiding the development of the newly launched Circular Economy Lab and will be teaching an MBA class on this subject this spring. 

Over her career, Charmian has been a Special Advisor for many leading organisations including Grant Thornton and Bridges Ventures and has had the pleasure of working with leadership teams from corporations including Nike, Allianz and HP as they’ve developed new social innovation, partnership and investment strategies.

Australian interloper and reformed banker, Paul was Co-Founder of peer-to-peer car insurance platform Guevara - fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming an insurance salesman.  Having won Wired Money's startup competition, and building the business for nearly five years, Guevara’s journey ended in 2017. Paul then began consulting to insurance startups and stalwarts, continuing to help build insurance products for the digital age.