Birmingham-based health and wellbeing group, BHSF, has announced the appointment of Dr Charmaine Leech as Head of Risk.

With over 15 years’ experience in the insurance sector, Charmaine joins BHSF with extensive knowledge of risk management.Most recently, Charmaine focused on the implementation of Solvency II, a directive in European Union law which primarily concerns the reduction of risk in EU insurance companies.

As Head of Risk at BHSF, Charmaine will ensure a cohesive and integrated approach to risk management throughout the organisation and transparency of business.

In her new role, she will take responsibility for the development, maintenance and enhancement of an effective risk management framework. This will include the ongoing assessment of risk to the business, while ensuring the opportunities and consequences, which arise due to the risk environment, are understood.

Commenting on the appointment, Peter Maskell, Group Chief Executive at BHSF, said: “As a regulated insurer and insurance broker, BHSF has to meet onerous requirements from our regulators at the Bank of England. These include the proper identification and management of business risks.

“Charmaine has had extensive experience in the field of risk over many years at a number of insurers, including NFU Mutual, Prudential and Canada Life. Her knowledge and experience will be extremely helpful to us going forward.”

Charmaine said: “I’m thrilled to have been appointed as Head of Risk at BHSF. It is an exciting time to be joining the health insurance industry, and BHSF is at the forefront of this evolving sector, creating innovative ways to support employers and employees’ health and wellbeing. I look forward to the challenges ahead in the ever-changing insurance industry, and ensuring we continue to meet our customers growing requirements.”

Charmaine has a doctorate in pure mathematics, and an MSc with distinction in experimental psychology. Starting out as a strategy consultant for IBM, she moved to NFU Mutual to re-engineer processes, where she was quickly promoted to Risk Manager for life businesses, then Senior Risk Manager, and Head of Risk.