Guardian CEO Katya MacLean will be leaving the insurer at the end of this month after five years at the helm, as she takes a career break for travelling.
Executive chairman Peter Mann will lead the executive team on an interim basis while the recruitment process to find a permanent CEO takes place.
MacLean (pictured) spoke to Health & Protection about why she thinks the provider will still hit its goal of becoming a top five provider by 2028, why paying claims always rank among her proudest achievements, her immediate travel plans and why this may not be the last the protection sector sees of her.
Eight years building a business
MacLean joined the protection challenger in October 2016 with the goal, the provider said, of “building a business that would make a difference to people’s lives who needed protection”.
Ahead of Guardian’s launch in 2018, she carried out a variety of roles – including proposition director – until her appointment as CEO five years ago.
Under her stewardship the business has grown substantially year-on-year, with a 40% increase in sales in 2023.
Targeting top five
When Health & Protection interviewed MacLean last year she spoke of Guardian’s goal to become a top five provider by 2028.
And MacLean remains confident that goal will be reached despite her impending exit.
“I’m totally confident in the team,” MacLean said.
“A business is never about one person and one of the responsibilities that I’ve had over the last years has been bringing together a team of amazing people who will be achieving that. I’m fully confident of that.
“I’m really pleased with our journey – even since I did the interview.
“We partnered with Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) earlier this year which meant we were accessible to all advisers in the UK.
“We’re on a sustained and rapid growth trajectory which means we’re heading in the right direction.”
Myriad external challenges
MacLean added that she was particularly proud of the team’s resilience amid myriad external challenges.
“When I reflect back on the time since we launched the business and the time since I took over as CEO, for a life insurance business, we had a global pandemic in our second year of trading, we’ve had mortgage market turmoil,” she explained.
“Any business that can weather all of those storms and grow so fast through that and achieve anything it puts its mind to really, I’ve got full confidence the team can deliver.
“Exact details of that will be with the next CEO and I’ll be watching with great interest.”
Proudest achievement
But while MacLean can point to a number of key successes, she said the thing she is always proudest of is paying a claim.
“Every time we pay a claim and every time we help a customer or their family at the time of their greatest need,” she continued.
“So when we released our claims statistics recently and showed our thinking about terminal illness and critical illness definitions five, six or seven years ago and that we’ve embedded our thinking about claims outcomes in everything we do over the years have turned into exactly the outcomes we wanted to see.
“That for me is the absolute highlight and that’s what we’re all about.”
Not ruling out a return to sector
When quizzed on a possible return to the world of protection, she said: “Who knows? Absolutely. I wouldn’t rule anything out.”
However, in terms of immediate plans post-exit, MacLean intends to be away for six months.
“That’s the current plan,” she continued.
“I’m completely tied to spontaneity so I’m trying not to be hyper-organised about everything but the early months of that time will definitely include a four-week road trip around the Southern US, a month in Berlin immersing myself in the German language because I do speak German but really roughly now, and also a trip to New Zealand over Christmas time to spend time with my daughter who emigrated there last year.
“And then after that I will probably travel back through Asia and take my time over several months.”
Sad to see her go
Guardian executive chairman Peter Mann said: “We’re all very sad to see Katya go. She’s been an inspirational leader for our challenger brand.
“We wish Katya all the very best on her travels and future challenges. And thank her for her drive, direction, endless energy and enthusiasm which has made Guardian the great place it is today.”
Mann will lead the executive team on an interim basis while the recruitment process to find a permanent CEO takes place.