Davies appoints CEO of Keoghs, its legal services unit, as Whittle steps down

Davies, the specialist professional services and technology business serving the insurance industry, has promoted Allison Carr to the role of chief executive officer (CEO) of Keoghs, its legal solutions business.

John Whittle, the current CEO at Keoghs who led the deal that saw it join Davies in March 2020, is retiring from the business after 30 years of service, 15 of them as CEO.

Meanwhile Gary Fitzpatrick has also been promoted to the role of chief commercial officer at Keoghs.

Carr joined Keoghs as a solicitor in 2002 and has held various senior operational and leadership roles in the firm, most recently as chief operating officer where she was responsible for scaling the legal solutions business to over 1700 people, supporting a number of acquisitions and building out a leading UK wide presence.

She joins Davies’ group executive committee and reports to group CEO Dan Saulter.

Fitzpatrick focuses on bringing together the commercial, client service and growth strategy for Keoghs. He has more than 20 years’ service at Keoghs, in various senior executive roles, and leads the relationship with some of Davies’ largest clients.

Since the beginning of 2021 Davies has made a number of senior hires, including: Emma Wedderburn as group chief human resources officer, Dene Rowe as group chief marketing officer and Darren Coombes as group deputy chairman.

Globally Davies 4,300 colleagues operate across the UK, Ireland, Bermuda, the US and Canada.

Saulter said Davies is ambitious to continue to grow its legal solutions business in the UK and internationally. “Investing in our people and giving them opportunities for career development is central to our success,” he said.