Allianz Commercial strengthens regional distribution

Allianz Commercial has announced the appointment of four regional distribution managers covering the South, North, London, Midlands and the South West regions to ensure that brokers across the UK are fully supported within the market.

All four regional distribution managers will be responsible for overseeing the sales and distribution strategy for Allianz Commercial. They’ll be responsible for establishing long-term relationships with partner brokers and mutual customers through regular engagement and offering solutions that provide peace of mind for customers.

Mike Thomas, director of distribution for digital and mid-market, Allianz Commercial commented: “Whilst we have strong long-established relationship with our partner brokers, I’m sure that these relationships will develop further with the leadership from Victoria, Viral, Mark and Julie. Their expertise will enable us to deliver the best of Allianz to our partner brokers and customers and deliver our strategic growth plans.”

Responsible for the South region is Victoria Ashman. Having joined Allianz in 2010 in the corporate partner team, she managed key partner relationships before taking on the position of key account manager. More recently Victoria has held the regional operations manager role for the South before becoming a strategic account manager for some of Allianz’s largest accounts.

Viral Patel takes on the position of regional distribution manager, Midlands & South West region. He started his career at Allianz in 2005 as an engineering assistant business development underwriter, before moving into a business development role where he managed a panel of broker relationships and later a development manager role leading the engineering development team across the Midlands and South West region. More recently, Viral was distribution manager for Engineering Construction & Power in the London & Real Estate markets.

Mark O’Brien has been appointed regional distribution manager, North. He joined Allianz in 2011 as a business developer before stepping into the position of distribution manager for Manchester in 2017. Mark joined Allianz from Axa where he held internal and external account executive roles.

Managing the London region is Julie O’Donovan who has been appointed London Market Manager. In this role Julie with lead the Broker Development Manager team and will have overall responsibility for the Mid Market Distribution strategy within the London Region, in close alignment with the Large Corp and Specialty segments Distribution teams. She will report to Alastair Warren-Upham the Head of Distribution, London for Allianz Commercial in the UK. Julie has a wealth of experience having worked or Allianz in Ireland, Australia, within the London team as well as a spell in Singapore. More recently she has worked as a Strategic Account Manager responsible for leading a number of national broker relationships.