LifeSearch CEO Tom Baigrie and former Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII) executive chairman Stuart Scullion have been recognised with Outstanding Contribution Awards at the first UK Health & Protection Awards.
The pair were nominated for their leadership and endeavours in developing their respective businesses, advancing the industry, and building relationships between insurers and intermediaries.
Tom Baigrie
Baigrie has been involved in the protection insurance industry for four decades.
After starting as an insurance and investment broker in the 1980s, with business partner Arthur Davies he then founded the dedicated protection brokerage LifeSearch in 1998.
The following years saw the firm, with which he has now become synonymous, grow to become one of the leading players in the UK intermediated market with more than 500 employees.
Meanwhile Baigrie’s larger than life personality has lit up the industry on countless occasions.
He has been a consistent voice for improving standards within all aspects of the industry and is part of the Access to Insurance Movement, The Resilience Task Force and the Protection Distributors’ Group.
Next month Baigrie will step down as CEO of LifeSearch but has pledged to take on a more outward facing role to keep influencing the market.
Accepting the award, Baigrie said: “It’s great to be recognised as an outstanding contributor.
“In the 40 years since I first sold a policy and 22 years since I really began focusing on protection our market has been led by lots of people who’ve really tried to improve the market throughout.
“I’ve certainly been one of them and I’m grateful and it’s great to be recognised, but there’s a large and growing team of what I like to call do-gooders in protection and we should swell those ranks because we are really changing our market for the better.
“So thank you very much for recognising me, go on and recognise lots of other people in years to come because there are lots of us doing good.”
Stuart Scullion
Scullion has worked on both sides of the fence in the health insurance world for more than a quarter of a century.
He started in the 1990s and spent his first decade in the provider market before moving into the intermediary space in the mid-2000s.
Scullion has played a key role in developing and leading the sector, and his most recent position saw him bringing together both sides of the industry as executive chairman of the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII).
In April he stepped down after serving a six-year term, which included helping guide the industry through notable upheaval as well as the turbulent waters of Brexit and a global pandemic.
During his time at AMII he helped deliver the customer authorisation form which helped stamp out bad practice and the data transfer protocol to the benefit of insurers, intermediaries and end customers.
Accepting the award, Scullion said: “I’ve been lucky to have worked with some great people during my career to whom I owe a massive thank you. I would not have won the award without them.”
He also congratulated all those who had won awards and noted that after two years of virtual lockdown he was sure the industry would be ready to party.
The full list of winners is available here.
(Pictured: AMII executive chairman Dave Middleton accepts an Outstanding Contribution Award on behalf of Stuart Scullion from Aetna International executive director Damian Lenihan [L] and awards host Dara O’Briain [R])