Tony Ham Insurance Brokers Limited

PROFILES

TONY HAM
When he founded THIBL in 1987, Tony Ham brought to it a formidable range of experience and expertise gained from working in high-profile positions for blue chip companies.

Since 1987, with the assistance of experienced colleagues, he has developed a company which has carried out key assignments for the Department of Transport, the Highways Agency, the Welsh Office and Scottish Executive and worked on insurance projects for, among many others, Metro-Cammell (Alstom), Verolme Brasil, NBM Amsteland and Ting Kau Bridge in Hong Kong.

After obtaining a Masters degree at the University of Oxford, Tony Ham joined Joseph Rank in 1954 gaining detailed experience at unit, company and regional levels. In 1962 he joined Cammell Laird, managing contracts for new builds, refits and repairs. Appointed Commercial Manager, Tony developed his insurance experience further when chartering Cammell Laird-built vessels.

Following Cammell Laird, Tony Ham undertook various management consultancy projects with Urwick Orr. In 1971 he became responsible for management development and recruitment and salary administration at the Cooperative Wholesale Society.

Tony Ham then went to General Surety and Guarantee to develop their Surety underwriting business. Subsequently Swiss Re purchased the company and he took charge of General Surety & Guarantee’s London office.

In 1977, Bland Payne recruited Tony Ham to develop their capability to provide clients with insurance solutions to financial problems. From 1981 to 1985, as a director of Sedgwick International, and then as a director of Bain Dawes London, he developed his involvement in surety bonding, political risks, financial risks, insurance consultancy and finance/contract negotiation.

Tony Ham established his own company, Tony Ham Insurance Brokers Limited - THIBL in 1987.

GILES HAM
A life in insurance began for Giles Ham when he left school and helped to set up THIBL in 1987. He then widened his experience by working on non-marine and aviation syndicates with Andrew Drysdale Underwriting Ltd. A spell as assistant underwriter for
retail and extended warranty business in the London office of Italian insurance company Toro Assicurazioni SpA followed.

Giles rejoined THIBL in 1992, initially responsible for administration and expanding the use of computer applications. After a period of handling enquiries within bond facilities and analysing company accounts, he took part in a course in the USA, organised by Seaboard Surety, for underwriters and gained practical experience in their headquarter offices.

In addition to supporting much of the consultancy undertaken by THIBL for the Department of Transport and the Highways Agency, Giles Ham was also engaged for a number of years in vetting the financial strength and insurance programmes of over 30 of the larger contractors invited to tender by the Highways Agency, to reduce and simplify the insurance tender process. He now looks after the requirements of THIBL’s surety clients and has taken over responsibility for some of its overall consultancy activity.

JEREMY McGAHAN
Jeremy McGahan’s role for THIBL lies in analysing the complex financial arrangements called for when clients are expanding both in their home and overseas markets – in particular by attracting working capital through non-recourse debt sales and structured financing.

Jeremy’s expertise is drawn from a wide fund of relevant experience. For the past five years he has been head of trade finance at Anglo Irish Bank, where he also won valuable experience and contacts in the property and asset financing sectors. Previously, he was head of trade finance at Nomura Bank International in London, joining Nomura after heading the trade finance team of a blue-chip central European commercial bank.

Jeremy’s career began with a degree from Oxford University, after which success in a sales role with a UK financial services company culminated in a posting to Tokyo to oversee new business development. This led to the the City of London and the UK’s
premier finance and forfaiting company, for whom he undertook several business expansion projects and the establishment of the company’s successful North American subsidiary and its Latin American sales operations.

GEOFF NOY
Geoff Noy, who has been a consultant to THIBL since 1989, has experience of the insurance world stretching back to 1949 when he joined Norwich Union at its headquarters. Here he served in all the major underwriting departments, including motor, fire, all-risks and liability. Three years later he became a senior member of the Accident Department at Norwich Union’s Chelmsford Branch, covering all insurances with the exception of fire and life.

He later transferred to the Romford Branch as a new business inspector and then became senior inspector at the branch with responsibility for the East London postal areas, new business production and smaller claims.

Geoff Noy left Norwich Union in 1967 to become Insurance Manager for the Derek Crouch Group, largest open-cast coalmining operator in the UK at the time, with civil engineering, building, plant hire, farming and property subsidiaries. The group expanded further into the USA and Belgium, and Geoff Noy was later appointed chairman of its sales company and a member of the main board of Derek Crouch PLC. He remained with the group for 21 years before joining THIBL.

STEVE WALKER
Steve Walker joined THIBL in 1990 and has been involved in consultancy briefs undertaken by THIBL on behalf of the Department of Transport, the Highways Agency and others. To these he has brought both experience in liability and contractors’ insurances and specialist knowledge developed in professional indemnity and environmental liability insurances.

Steve has worked in the insurance industry for over 40 years, since joining the Northern Insurance Company as a trainee in liability and contractors’ all-risks underwriting. He then became a liability underwriter with Midland Assurance and soon after this a city inspector responsible for new business and all agency matters arising from the operations of a panel of City of London insurance brokers.

A move to the Insurance Company of North America as a production underwriter brought responsibilities similar to those at Midland Assurance, plus underwriting authority in all classes of insurance written by the company. Steve rose to responsibility for the whole City production team, then to further his career decided to become an insurance broker – initially in the London suburbs and then at Lloyds for Jardine Insurance Brokers. He then undertook a spell of underwriting for AIG before joining THIBL in 1990.