Howden fills new chief corporate and legal affairs position

Howden Group has created a new position of chief corporate and legal affairs officer to focus on major, complex corporate initiatives and development.

Will Bloomer steps into the new role, having held the role of group general counsel since 2013. He joined Howden Group in March 2012 as corporate and legal director and is a member of the group’s executive committee.

Before joining Howden he spent 12 years with Heath Lambert (later Gallagher Heath) as general counsel and compliance director. He began his career as a solicitor with Cameron McKenna in London and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Frances Coats joins Howden as group general counsel to lead the international legal team, while taking seats on the Howden Broking and DUAL Group executive committees.

Coats has both in-house and private practice experience, leading teams in industries from technology and insurance to litigation finance, and in a number of jurisdictions. She was previously as European general counsel for bolttech, the leading international insurtech business, and she was previously chief counsel, corporate and commercial at The Ardonagh Group. She has also held leadership positions at Tesco and Kraft Foods.

Coats began her legal career at White and Case in London and Tokyo before stints at Latham and Watkins and Clifford Chance in London and the Middle East. In her new role she reports to Bloomer.

David Howden, group chief executive officer at Howden Group, said: “Our scale, reach and relevance, and a competitive backdrop that presents us with an incredible opportunity to attract those who want to help us build something different for clients in a unique culture together, mean that the future will be busy!  To this end, we must continue to enhance our ability to move with speed and precision whilst managing an increasing number of projects, and we will do this by investing further in our capabilities and infrastructure.”

Bloomer said Coats “brings a commercial eye and a breadth and depth of legal experience that, in combination, mean she will bring a fresh dynamic to our endeavours.”