Howden appoints new COO for HEB
Howden has appointed Peter Murphy (pictured) as chief operating officer of Howden Employee Benefits (HEB). The appointment is effective 1 September 2026.
Murphy has served as chief operating officer of Howden’s employee benefits division for the past six years. His remit now extends across the enlarged UK business of 2,600 colleagues, bringing together Howden’s existing employee benefits team with colleagues from its recent acquisitions including Barnett Waddingham, the employee benefits consultancy arm of Evelyn Partners and Hymans Robertson's Insurance and Financial Services Consulting Team.
Globally, Howden's employee benefits division comprises approximately 4,000 experts across 40 countries, with combined revenues exceeding £500 million.
As COO, Murphy will lead operational delivery and technology-enabled transformation across the combined business, building a single operating platform capable of supporting Howden’s growth ambitions in the UK and internationally.
Murphy brings extensive experience in operations, transformation and business leadership. Prior to joining Howden, he spent 15 years at WTW in a range of client-facing, operational and transformation leadership roles.
This follows a series of senior leadership appointments to the HEB senior leadership team over the past year. Carla Hammond joined as chief financial officer from Jones Lang LaSalle, Rob Byett as chief risk officer from Hargreaves Lansdown, and Andy Samuel as global chief technology officer from Ardonagh Advisory.
Glenn Thomas, chief executive & global practice leader - Health & Employee Benefits, said: “Employee benefits is one of the fastest growing parts of Howden, and in the UK, we have built a business that can compete with anyone. Peter has been central to that. Asking him to take on the combined business reflects both the scale of what we have created and our confidence in him to run it.
“We have deliberately built out the senior leadership team over the past year to match that ambition, bringing in real strength and hard-won experience from outside our sector as well as within it.
“Howden Group has set out its 30/30 vision to become a £10 billion business by 2030. Employee benefits will be a significant part of delivering that, and Peter's role is central to making sure we have the operational foundations to get there.”
Murphy commented: “This business has changed enormously in a short space of time, and that is exactly why this new role matters now. My focus is on making sure the operational, technology and data foundations match the ambition.
“In practice that means stronger connectivity across our systems and processes, better use of the data we hold and simpler ways of working across teams. Get that right and clients feel it in the quality and consistency of what we deliver, and colleagues feel it every day.”
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