British Insurance Awards 2019: Insurance Personality of the Year - David Williams, Axa

Winner: David Williams, Axa

The insurance personality of the year was chosen by the respected judging panel for their efforts on a number of fronts.

Axa’s managing director for underwriting and technical services David Williams is someone who rarely seems to be out of the spotlight, and understands the importance of working with the media to make sure the industry’s voice is heard and understood.

This has led to past appearances on BBC Breakfast TV, Channel 4 News, and Radio 4’s Today Programme, being interviewed on topics varying from compensation culture to driverless cars.

Indeed, David has established himself as one of the leading industry spokespeople on autonomous vehicles, arguing it is the insurance sector’s duty to be involved in the development of driverless cars to protect the policyholders of the future.

As well as being central to the government’s ‘connected and autonomous vehicles’ pilots, David is presently chair of RISC Authority and a board member at the Fire Protection Association. Two key organisations in a post-Grenfell world.

David is also actively involved with the Chartered Insurance Institute and a keen proponent of professional development. Indeed he remarked earlier this year how proud he was in 2007 [Donna Claydon] and 2008 [Jon Nottingham] when two members of his team won the Young Achiever category.

“It felt really good seeing the focus we had on developing people being recognised, and how quite rightly proud the individuals were of what they had achieved,” he commented.

Well, David now has his own BIA trophy to treasure, as the deserved 2019 Insurance Personality of the Year winner.

I am absolutely delighted to receive the award, as well as doing the right thing for our customers, colleagues and partners, we also need to convince them that we have their best interests at heart and aren’t just a faceless corporation. This is where personality comes in, making insurance appear more human!

David Williams, managing director, underwriting and technical services at Axa