Core teams

Matt Field is the Chief Marketing Officer for Aventum Group. Matt assists all group businesses with their growth strategies and leads the sales team to build strong relationships with brokers across the UK.

He joined the group in August 2016 to establish a northern office. He has spent 10 years working in sales and marketing roles within the insurance industry, starting at a legal expenses and add-on product intermediary.

If he wasn’t working for Aventum, Matt would probably be travelling Europe watching Liverpool Football Club win more European Cups.

April Faint is the Brand & Marketing Director at Aventum Group.

April joined the group in November 2019 and has worked in marketing within the insurance industry for more than eight years, directing design and marketing for a wide range of brands globally across the insurance sector.

Andrew Bajcar is a senior digital designer at Aventum Group, responsible for designing the layout of all documentation and marketing materials for the group.

Andrew joined the group in January 2021, having worked in graphic designing or digital designing for the last 18 years.

Outside of work Andrew likes to spent time with his family, and when he gets the chance play football or a round of golf

Lee Dumford is managing director at Securus Risk Advisors. His main responsibilities include the day to day running of the company and surveying activities globally, including across Europe, the UK, US, and Australia.

Lee created Securus Risk Advisors in August 2020, having previously been a senior insurance surveyor at SECON. Formerly a fire fighter, Lee is an experienced fire risk consultant, and studied through the Institute of Fire Engineers to attain his knowledge of risk management and fire science.

Outside of work, Lee enjoys playing golf, watching rugby, and spending time with family and friends. He is also a keen road cyclist and gym attendee.

Oral Fuat is the group IT manager at Aventum Group. He is responsible for all IT functions across the group, including the IT Helpdesk, and managing the IT Services team.

Oral joined the group straight from school in August 2013 having always been interested and excited by IT, and was promoted to his current role in February 2021.

If Oral wasn't working for Aventum, you would likely find him playing and watching football, training at the gym, binge watching box sets, eating, or spending time with family and friends.

Sam Hayman is an IT Services Executive at Aventum Group.

Sam joined the group in 2020 as part of the IT support team, having recently graduated from university studying cyber security.

Sam has always had a passion for IT systems, but outside of work he enjoys playing games, going to the gym and seeing live bands

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Charlette Newland is the Deputy Head of IBA for Consilium, Aura, and Rokstone. Her responsibilities are to oversee her hard-working team and ensure the smooth running of the department.

Charlette joined the group in 2014 where she started in the accounts department with just two staff members and has watched the company go from strength to strength, now supporting a department of over 10 members.

Outside of work, Charlette enjoys making the most of her home life with her two children, from exploring quiet nature parks to the adrenaline rush of different theme parks.

Alex Curme is the Group Finance Director at Aventum, responsible for working on projects within the finance function that will help support the group as it continues to grow.

He joined the Group in February 2022, having previously spent five years as an auditor at Deloitte, specialising in all types of insurance companies, followed by three years at MGA Ensurance, where he was head of finance.

Outside of work, Alex plays a lot of football. He also recently became a father for the first time, which takes up a lot of spare hours!

Paul Lever is Head of Commercial Finance & FP&A at Aventum Group. Paul is responsible for helping the board and business units with forecasting, planning and performance monitoring.

He joined the group in December 2020, joining from Tysers Insurance Brokers where he spent four years building out the FP&A function. He also has operational and strategic advisory experience within financial services after five years as a consultant in the performance consulting team at Aon. Paul is a Chartered Accountant trained at Ernst & Young London.

Outside of work, Paul has travelled extensively in Asia and Latin America; and spent two years in Osaka, Japan, as a language tutor.

Canan Oral is the director of financial operations at Aventum Group.

She joined Aventum in 2005 when it was a small retail broker as an accounts administrator and was appointed finance director in 2007 after a successful couple of years of growth within the company.

Over the years Canan has developed and built a successful IBA team, which now control £500m of GWP. Acting as client money manager, she has ensured operational compliance with CASS and client money, reporting to the board. She has ownership of all insurance ledger controls including bank recs and segregation of duties.

Rowena Jordan is a Credit Controller at Aventum Group. Rowena is responsible for credit control, collecting and allocating payments, and reconciling insurer statements.

She is Cert CII qualified and has over 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry. Rowena joined Aventum in 2006 as a client account handler in the retail division, before changing roles in 2018 to join the accounts department.

Outside of work, she likes to relax with a good book, her cat, and some loud heavy metal music.

As Group Chief Risk Officer, Robert Moorehead-Lane has spent 33 years in financial services, with the last 20 being in insurance. Robert was previously Global Risk and Solvency VP for Assurant and Chief Risk Officer at Aspen. 

Robert believes Aventum to be an exciting place to be as the business continues to change the way insurance is delivered across the world. He sees each challenge as an opportunity to develop as individuals and as an organisation. 

Away from work, Robert enjoys golf and completing Ironman Triathlons.

Grant Peters is the head of compliance for Aventum Group. He is responsible for the group’s regulatory compliance framework, systems and controls, with his main responsibility to ensure the UK entities within the group comply with relevant regulatory and legislative requirements. He also supports the international firms in ensuring a consistent compliance structure is implemented across the wider group.

Grant is an experienced compliance professional well versed in general insurance regulation, and skilled in the design, creation and implementation of an effective and pragmatic compliance infrastructure. He has provided consultancy support to a plethora of firms within the general insurance space of differing sizes and structures. This includes recognised insurers and intermediaries, MGAs, consumer credit firms, ‘household name’ car manufacturers and firms in the insurtech arena.

When Grant isn’t working for Aventum, you can find him glued to the screen as he is an avid gamer

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Neil Milner is the chief people officer at Aventum Group.

Neil has over 24 years’ experience in the London insurance market, and first joined Aventum in December 2006 as a broking and development manager. His first responsibility was to act as broker for the first London market lineslip the group placed. He has held various roles with the company since then including commercial director, managing director of Consilium’s UK business, and group operations director.

In March 2020 Neil was appointed chief people officer and is currently tasked with developing a first class human resource team to ensure we attract, retain and develop top talent, while also ensuring we have state of the art office and remote working facilities in place.

Jonathan Sparham is a Group Head of HR Functions at Aventum Group.

Jonathan joined the group in March 2021, having previously spent eight years in the insurance sector working for Arthur J Gallagher, Tokio Marine HCC and Novae Group in a variety of HR roles with an operations bias. Before insurance, he worked for American Express, Unilever and Procter and Gamble in a variety of roles.

Outside of work, apart from spending time with his 11-year-old daughter, Jonathan’s passion is competing in dog agility. He also enjoys watching rugby and trying to play tennis.

Demi provides support to employees, covering the entire employee life cycle, including on-boarding, employee relations, HR administration, compensation and benefits.

Demi brings six years of experience in a variety of HR functional areas. Prior to joining the group, Demi worked as a HR supervisor and PA in the travel industry.

Demi is recently finished studying her CIPD Intermediate Diploma in HR Management.

As Group HR Operations Manager, Kerry Hurst has worked in insurance for over a decade. Before insurance, Kerry trained as a teacher and spent five years working in schools. 

Coming back to Insurance as an IBA Accounts Manager at Aventum before her current position, most of Kerry’s insurance experience is within credit control, while she also has experience as a Reinsurance Technician. 

Away from work, Kerry loves to knit and crochet. She has two children and enjoys family life with them, her husband and their dog, Axolotls.

Ali Foroshani is the talent acquisition manager at Aventum Group, responsible for attracting and recruiting for all vacancies in the group.

Ali joined the group in April 2021 having previously spent three years in a similar role at Lockton Companies LLP. He has spent most of his career recruiting for agencies specialising in insurance.

Outside of work Ali mainly spends time with family and friends. He tries to get out on his bike as much as possible and has recently started taking his son to mini rugby.

Karen joined Aventum as Human Resources Manager, responsible for the day-to-day management and support of the core HR and Learning and Development function within the wider HR team. Within 8 months Karen was promoted to Group Head of People Partners, responsible for determining and leading the direction of the HR People team and overall People Strategy.  Ensuring that the corporate values and mission are at the forefront of supporting the changing needs of the business and its employees.

Before joining the Aventum family, Karen worked at Ascot Underwriting as HR Talent and Culture Manager after spending five years at MS Amlin as an HR Business Partner. Karen was drawn to Aventum’s appetite for innovation and how the business embraces change and diversity. 

Away from work, Karen loves to spend time with her family, bake with her stepdaughter, take long walks and raise money for charity. Karen has completed a wing walk, been skydiving and even abseiled for charitable causes. She is also fully qualified in British Sign Language.

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As Group Chief Technology Officer, Hasani Jess brings almost 25 years of experience to the business.

Previously, Hasani worked at Simply Business as a Chief Technology Officer and was Head of Delivery at TUI before that. Over the years, Hasani has designed, built and led technology and organisations in consulting, finance, telecommunications, travel, retail and insurance.

Away from work, Hasani is a proud husband and father of four. He is also a professional mentor, mentoring young men for over 13 years. Hasani is a recognised CIO100 Leader (2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022), in addition to being a Diversity Champion, winning the EveryWoman ‘Male Agent of Change’ award in 2021, a NED and a start-up advisor.

James Fairgrieve is the change delivery manager at Aventum, responsible for the end-to-end management of change programmes and projects, and ensuring they are delivered to a high quality.

He joined the group full-time in August 2021, having worked on freelance basis for Aventum since February 2021. Since 2006 he has been a contractor implementing IT systems and business change initiatives, specialising in the London insurance market from 2010

Outside of work, James has three kids, and loves to get out into nature, describing himself as a ‘bit of a tree-hugger’. He is also a qualified master scuba diver.

Simon joined the group in April 2022 and bring to the group over 40 years’ experience in handling claims for both Brokers and Underwriters. 

Most recently he was at part of the setup of the Probitas syndicate at Lloyds and set up all the claims systems to manage MI for the syndicate and managed their complex claims. If he was not here he would be restoring classic cars. 

Nicola Chapman is the Chief Claims Officer, where she coordinates an efficient team, managing the claims for Consilium Insurance Brokers.

Starting in the insurance world in 1995, Nicola first worked as a Trainee Commercial Account Handler. Nicola joins Aventum after working for The Underwriting Exchange Limited for over 14 years and is looking forward to putting her years of experience into practice in a new environment.

Outside of work, Nicola enjoys a healthy lifestyle and spending time with her three children. A big fan of the outdoors, she has taken part in various runs and a couple of triathlons. She also likes to socialise, going to the theatre, reading and travelling to new places to explore different cultures.