Our management team

As was the case for so many Norfolk school leavers in the 70s, Steven began his working life at Norwich Union. He started out in the Contingency department, and so began his lifelong association with legal indemnities. Within ten years, his work took him to the bright lights of London to run the legal indemnity account for The Prudential. It was there in the early 90s that Steven experienced his ‘Eureka!’ moment, and led him to set up Countrywide alongside Colin English.

From the beginning, Steven used his vast underwriting experience to underwrite enquiries and help establish the service standards for which the company is best known. As Chief Executive, he likes to keep his fingers firmly on the pulse of the property industry, and is still frequently wheeled out to help with behind-the-scenes aspects of running the company, as well as taking responsibility for matters relating to insurance mediation.

Having graduated from Cardiff University with a degree in Business Administration, Colin entered the publishing industry, working in and around London for the next decade in a variety of managerial roles. In the early 90s Colin met Steven Clarke, a colleague of his wife Keren at the Prudential, and so began the Countrywide story.

With very little insurance knowledge, Colin used his business and organisational experience to support and promote the fledgling legal indemnity service, helping to build the platform from which the business grew and prospered. With the eventual closure of the London office, he decided not to relocate to Norwich and now works from his base in Surrey. Still possessing very little insurance knowledge, Colin continues to provide the benefit of his wisdom on matters of strategy and finance.

David started working in insurance in 1976 after joining Norwich Union. He spent 20 years there, initially as a commercial insurance underwriter before moving on to run various teams. The last few years at Norwich Union were spent in the Commercial Insurance Marketing team, managing and controlling internal and external publications and copywriting.

David joined Countrywide in June 1996 as the Marketing and Administration Manager at the launch of its new Norwich office. After serving his time carrying out marketing and office management duties (including vacuuming and dusting!), he was made a company Director in 2001, before being appointed as the Managing Director in 2005.

Despite what his youthful appearance suggests, Kevin actually left school back in 1988 (you do the maths). Straight from school he joined - you guessed it - Norwich Union, where he worked in the Contingency department, or ‘odds and sods’ insurance as they knew it, which included legal indemnity insurance. After training as a legal indemnity underwriter, quickly reaching a senior level, he was head-hunted by Countrywide and joined in 1997 as a senior underwriter.

A few promotions later and Kevin is now the Underwriting Development Manager. Chief among his many duties is helping to develop new products and services, plus creating and reviewing the company’s policy wordings, quote terms and premiums. He is also responsible for our HR and Claims teams.

A qualified accountant, Simon has worked in various finance roles since 1998. He first worked for the Norwich Office of Chartered Accountants PKF, then for a children’s education and activity company, followed by a waste and recycling business. In 2006, he joined Countrywide to become our first Finance Manager.

Over the years, Simon has taken on several additional roles. In 2007, he was promoted to Financial Controller and Associate Director, taking on additional duties as the Company Secretary and, in 2011, he drew the short straw and was put in charge of the company’s compliance matters.

Kevin’s rite of passage at Norwich Union began in the late-80s, where he joined as part of their Singles Conversion department in the Commercial Insurance division. After fulfilling a number of different roles, each with their own fancy title, Kevin left to join Countrywide as the IT manager in 2000.

In his time, he has successfully managed the delivery of a number of IT projects, which over the years have helped us provide the great service that we are renowned for. Despite being a Norfolk boy through and through, Kevin prefers to support Chelsea over Norwich City, but thankfully, when it comes to overseeing development of our systems, he demonstrates far better judgement.

Danny’s career began in 1991 at Norwich Union, where he worked as a credit controller, dealing with national broker accounts. In 1997, he joined Norwich Union’s legal indemnity team as an underwriter, where he progressed to a senior underwriting role. He left in 2006 to join the fledgling Isis Conveyancing Insurance Specialists, and successfully helped to grow their business from the ground up.

Keen fisherman Danny became our catch of the year in 2014 when we reeled him in and persuaded him to manage one of our underwriting teams at Countrywide; and he was hooked! A few years down the line saw Danny add further to his immeasurable knowledge and valuable experience (so he tells us) and he was subsequently appointed as the Underwriting Manager, overseeing all the underwriting teams.

Richard cut his teeth at Norwich Union, where he built up his experience working in a variety of legal indemnity markets, including residential, commercial, overseas and lending. He joined Countrywide in 1999 as an underwriter and soon after, was asked to manage the ‘specialist risks’ team.

After fulfilling various roles over the years at Countrywide, Richard left to manage the legal indemnity account for Aviva in late 2010. He didn’t stay away for too long though, and has been back in the Countrywide fold since 2013.

Jamie kicked off his career in insurance in 1998, working for Marsh in their European Accounts Team. He then briefly left the desk behind, training for two years as a tree surgeon, until his mum suggested he try a safer job. Legal indemnity insurance seemed the obvious way to go.

First joining Countrywide in 2001 as an underwriter, Jamie quickly gained expertise, progressing to the position of team manager. He moved in 2015 to head up the underwriting team at Isis Conveyancing; however, in 2020, Countrywide welcomed him back into the fold, where he has taken up the role of Underwriting Team Manager once again.

After studying and working in hospitality management, and discovering that 6am starts and 11pm finishes were not for her, Hayley went from the ridiculous to the sublime, joining Countrywide in 2006 as a trainee underwriter. Not that her earlier training went to waste – she can always be relied upon to organise the Christmas night out.

Despite struggling at times to fit work in around a hectic travel schedule, Hayley joined the specialist risks’ team in 2010, working up to become a senior underwriter in 2017. She was promoted again to assistant team manager in 2020, and in 2022, was appointed Underwriting Team Manager.

The bright lights of legal indemnities lured Oliver away from a plan to study law, and instead he joined Aviva as an underwriter in 2011. His head wasn’t even turned by his success as a gamer – winning a trip to Las Vegas to play FIFA in the EA Sports Challenge Series 2013. Ultimately, nothing could compete with underwriting.

He joined Countrywide in 2015 and after progressing to the role of senior underwriter and assistant team manager in 2021, he was appointed Underwriting Team Manager in January 2024. With his gaming days behind him, he’s now more likely to be found walking his dog or playing golf.

Straight from school, Mark joined Norwich Union’s Contingency Department in 1990, handling legal indemnity enquiries. He joined Countrywide in 1999, initially as an underwriter, but a few years later, was offered a dual role dealing in both product development and claims. He was then appointed in a full-time claims role as the Claims Manager.

Mark left Countrywide for the countryside in 2010, going on to work in conservation for a local wildlife trust. He re-joined the company in January 2015 as the Claims Controller, and now puts his experience (of claims, rather than of wildlife conservation!) to good use managing legal indemnity claims and the day-to-day running of the Claims team.

After graduating with a degree in Modern History, Duncan did the obligatory 12 months at Norwich Union where he worked in the commercial mortgage department. Quickly realising that this was not his calling, he left Norwich Union and returned to college to study marketing, spending the next five years promoting water heaters (it’s best not to ask about this) and various theatres.

Duncan joined Countrywide in 2006 and spent six years in the Marketing team, before an unlikely career development detour into the world of underwriting, where he worked as an assistant team manager for five years. Never one to sit still for too long, Duncan moved again in June 2017 to head up the Business Development team, and was then appointed Marketing and Senior Business Development Manager at the beginning of 2024.

Tom’s career in legal indemnities began in 2002, when he left school and headed straight into – drumroll, please – a job at Norwich Union. Initially working in the admin team, he quickly progressed to the role of technical underwriter specialising in commercial property, development and probate cases, until leaving in 2011 to join Isis Conveyancing’s underwriting team.

In 2015, Tom moved to Countrywide and traded underwriting for a business development role. His promotion to Business Development Manager in 2024 saw him heading up the team responsible for looking after existing customers, while encouraging others to experience the benefits of placing their business with us.

After leaving Nottingham Business School with a degree in Accounting and Finance, John trained for his ACCA professional qualification at Banham Graham Chartered Accountants (now Lovewell Blake) in Norwich, and then qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 2007. He then moved to Homeserve PLC where he worked as Management Accountant in several different divisions.

John joined Countrywide in September 2010 as Deputy Financial Controller, and in 2019 he was promoted to company Finance Manager, with responsibilities that include preparing the Company Management Accounts, supervising the transactional side of the accounting system, financial and compliance reporting and managing the Finance Team.