Special Ep Warren Downey & Lee Anderson of Specialist Risk Group: Building a natural home for specialists

Today’s guests are Warren Downey Group CEO and Lee Anderson,
Group Deputy CEO of UK-headquartered intermediary Specialist Risk
Group (SRG). Warren was last on the show as part of two very
early Special Episodes that SRG sponsored over three years ago.
Back then SRG was just about to get a new private equity backer
in the form of HGGC. Since that change of ownership the growth
has been impressive, with SRG increasing its intermediated
premium threefold via a combination of organic and inorganic
growth. So far this makes SRG sound like it is treading a
well-worn path of PE-backed consolidation, but that would be to
fundamentally misunderstand what Warren and Lee are trying to do
with this singular organisation. SRG is a fast-growing broking
and MGA platform with very high ambitions, but it is in no way a
conventional scale-up play on the hunt for market leverage and
cost removal. SRG is best described as a growing collection of
very specialist businesses that are all operating in niches where
it is the depth of its specialist knowledge and relevance to very
specific markets and not its scale that allows it to compete.
Warren and Lee are a brilliant double act and this is a
fascinating and fun insight into a broking group that is building
something intentionally different and going out of its way to do
unexpected and surprising things. From being agnostic about
channels to market, doing M&A differently, running a shadow
board or giving staff access to accelerated management programmes
and share ownership, there is a huge amount to admire in what
this duo is trying to achieve. So listen on – Warren and Lee talk
about preferring to show people what they have already done as
opposed to telling them what exciting, but as yet unexecuted,
plans they have for the future and this podcast is full to the
brim of excellent examples. And on a personal note I don’t think
I have had a more fun, lively and down-to-earth duo on the
podcast in a very long time – the time will fly by. NOTES: Warren
refers to growth to 600 million in premium volume. That’s in £
pounds, or $785mn in US Dollars. LINKS: SRG’s website is here:
www.specialistrisk.com You can contact Warren Downey at
Warren@specialistrisk.com