Steve Langan speaks of his hopes for future of Hiscox in York

THE MANAGING director of global insurance company Hiscox has said the company’s new York office is to be a centre for innovation for the business.

Steve Langan, whose first ever job was with Rowntree in York, said the York office, which will ultimately employ 300 to 500 people, would be a flagship office, signalling the future direction of the company.

He said he was excited about the move to York, which is primarily to support its business in the north of England. “We’re an international insurance and reinsurance company based in the western hemisphere in Bermuda, the United States and Europe, but it is the first time in the UK that we’ve really extended the footprint of the company significantly outside the south east.”

Hiscox, known for its Lloyds of London brand, has increased its insurance services for small to medium-sized businesses, and now the UK business is split 50:50 between insurance for small businesses and household insurance for the wealthier individual.

“We have been doing extremely well over the last ten years. When we decided to expand we looked at a number of places and York won pretty much hands down on every criteria we looked at – the quality of the workforce, infrastructure and transport links. But what really swung it for me was the vision and commitment of the political leadership in York.

“In some other places we tried to get into, including a large financial centre not far from York, we couldn’t even get a meeting with the council. In York, we were bowled over by their eagerness to get us to come and it was a big deciding factor.”

Following a recruitment day at the Guildhall earlier this year, which was attended by 250 people, Hiscox has already recruited 100 staff, most of which are new appointments made locally.

They will move temporarily into Mallard House, in Peasholme Green, which overlooks the Hungate site which will be home to its new purpose-built offices, from June.

He said the company had recently completed an architecture competition to decide the final look of the development, which will also incorporate a hotel employing a further 100 people.

He said the plans would be revealed in the next couple of months following discussions with planners, and if all goes well they hope to move into the building in the first quarter of 2015.

“It will be a landmark building. The brief we gave was to create something that was a progressive addition to the long history of York,” he said.

“It will be sympathetic, but perhaps challenge some of the conventions. We want it to look spectacular and be a spectacular place to work in.”

Mr Langan said the business was recruiting professional people, including graduates, who were not necessarily from an insurance background, but who had the right attitude, with tremendous customer empathy, were comfortable making decisions and who liked to have a bit of fun at work.

He said: “It’s a mixture of jobs that reflect what we’re doing as a business. They are all professional jobs, such as underwriters, claim handlers, HR and IT and we are trying to develop a best-in-class customer experience centre here. A lot of people will be dealing directly with our customers so we’re trying really to garner the best practice from around the world to develop something special here.

“I do see York as being the creative hub of the organisation in the UK.

“London is our headquarters and we moved into Colchester seven years ago. As the story of innovation within Hiscox moves forward, York is going to be the brightest expression of where the company is. I want it to be a centre of innovation and centre of the very best practice of everything we do.”

Steve Langan’s rise to the top

Scotsman Steve Langan lived in York for five years when he first started his career at Rowntree after leaving university in Glasgow.

“I started in the IT department and I hated it,” he said. “Then I went into the marketing department and loved it. I realised that was what I should be doing.”

He worked in marketing for drinks businesses including Scottish and Newcastle and Bass Brewery, before being headhunted by Coca Cola to be marketing director in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, then joining Diageo, marketing Guinness in Ireland and becoming the firm’s managing director in Italy.

After ten years abroad he decided to return to the UK after hearing the sons and daughters of expats who said they didn’t know where they hailed from.

“I didn’t want my children to have that rootlessness,” he said.

“It’s really important to come from somewhere.

“So I came back in 2005 without a job, which was scary in my mid-forties. The world is full of grey-haired marketing consultants.”

He was contacted by chairman Robert Hiscox and chief executive Bronek Masojada nearly eight years ago to become managing director for Hiscox.

“I didn’t know anything about insurance and asked about the induction programme, but they said there isn’t one, go figure.

“So I went round and interviewed everybody from the chairman to the postman. That got me up to speed really quickly. While insurance may involve some complex calculations, it’s a simple business.

“If you put the customer at the heart of the business, you create a better business.”