IPipeline has appointed Rachel Edwards as managing director, UK.
The former Verisk global managing director will guide IPipeline’s UK business strategy and product roadmap, supporting its mission to simplify, transform, and connect the protection and pensions savings and investment markets.
Edwards (pictured) joins iPipeline on 14 April and succeeds senior vice president and managing director, UK, Ian Teague.
She will oversee all business operations in the UK and a seven-person leadership team in the UK, reporting directly to CEO, Pat O’Donnell.
The firm added she will play a “critical role in ensuring continued growth, improved go-to-market execution, enhanced product cohesiveness, and customer-driven innovation”.
At Verisk, Edwards served as global managing director for life, health, and travel, where she was responsible for product diversification and design and oversaw the expansion of high-growth business operations into seven new countries.
Edwards spent the first five years of her eight-year tenure at Verisk defining strategic growth plans, securing funding for innovation, and optimising go-to-market strategies in the APAC region.
Earlier in her career, Edwards was managing director, Australasia, at Healix, where she oversaw insurance operations and technology solutions across Australia and New Zealand.
Pat O’Donnell, CEO at IPipeline, said: “We could not be more delighted to welcome Rachel to our leadership team.
“Over the course of her career, she has continually demonstrated her ability to scale businesses and deliver consistent top-line growth in highly competitive markets.
“She is an authentic leader, boasting an impressive track record of driving global business growth across the insurtech, data analytics, and software-as-a-service sectors. Her passion for building data-driven insurance solutions with a focus on customer experience makes her the ideal leader to drive our next phase of growth in the UK.”
Edwards said: “I am thrilled to join a true insurtech pioneer, and one that has transformed and streamlined protection insurance and annuity operations.
“IPipeline has been moving the needle in technology and automation since before the term digital transformation was even coined.
“I look forward to applying my experience to help providers, distributors, and advisers leverage the full potential of the digital age.”
She succeeds senior vice president and managing director, UK, Ian Teague, following a collaborative transition period.
Appointed managing director in 2013, Teague transformed IPipeline’s market position in Europe, establishing the company’s UK portal solution as an industry-leading solution, and led the expansion into the policy administration space, subsequently extending the company’s focus on life and annuities into the pensions and retail investments arena.
O’Donnell added: “I am incredibly proud of all that we have achieved with Ian’s valuable leadership and support. IPipeline would not be the company it is today without Ian’s zealous commitment to changing the game for providers and distributors in the life insurance and pension industries.
“His impact is woven into the very fabric of our various insurtech and wealthtech advances over the past decade, leaving a lasting legacy of innovation and progress.”
