William Russell Appoints New Commercial Director Tariq Siddiqi

William Russell appoints Tariq Siddiqi as the new Commercial Director, February 2022

With over twenty years’ of insurance experience, Tariq will be responsible for overseeing global new business and retention activity, leading broker distribution, and managing the global sales function.

Striving for excellence with 20+ years of insurance experience

Tariq Siddiqi joins William Russell as the company’s new Commercial Director, most recently as Sales Director at HCA Healthcare UK. With over twenty years of experience in the insurance industry, Tariq will be responsible for the strategic leadership of our UK and international sales departments, helping William Russell expand on the success of the past 30 years, as a leading independent international insurer. He will be overseeing global new business and retention activity, leading broker distribution, and managing the global sales function. Additionally, Tariq will join the leadership team play and a key role in executing the overarching corporate strategy.

Tariq had a 13-year career at Bupa, starting as a National Account Manager consulting with strategic clients across a whole range of health and wellbeing solutions. Following that Tariq became the Head of Bupa’s Affinity Team, accountable for a book of £200M in GWP and 250,000 lives, before moving into full P&L Management as the General Manager of Bupa Travel. A move to Citibank in 2011 as Head of Sales and Distribution saw Tariq successfully transition sectors into the Global Wealth Management and Retail Banking sector for HNW individuals, with a global lifestyle. During his time at Citi, Tariq played a leading role in the wholesale strategic transformation of the business with a clear path to profitability, before moving into a Head of Customer Experience and Business Transformation role at Citi, with accountability for NPS, process re-engineering and optimisation, as well as transformative books of work to drive the customer experience, and effectiveness and efficiency across the business. Most recently, Tariq was Sales Director for HCA Healthcare UK, and was tasked with a strategic review of the sales and distribution channels across this complex group following some challenging trading results.

On Michaels Lewars, the outgoing Commercial Director, Inez said:

“Michael was keen to ensure his successor was the right person, and that we were not impacted by the usual void period that follows a senior person moving on. We wish to put on record our thanks to him for facilitating this transition, and for all he has done for us over the last 4 years.”

Michael added:

“I feel a strong attachment to William Russell, so I was fully committed to ensuring that the person who succeeded me was proven and would not only take William Russell’s commercial operation forward, but also bring a fresh perspective, with new ways of working, and a degree of healthy challenge. Of equal importance was my desire to ensure that colleagues would feel at ease with the transition and that the way we transitioned recognised and protected the strong relationships we have with all our business and distribution partners. I give my thanks to everyone at William Russell for 4 wonderful years, and I wish Tariq the best of luck in the role. I have great confidence in the company’s future.”

Tariq said:

“I am extremely appreciative of the opportunity to join William Russell and I look forward to learning from my colleagues and our partners across the globe. My aim is to truly understand the obstacles and challenges we need to solve to enable the William Russell team, and our intermediary partners, to service more clients across our markets, in a long-term sustainable manner.”

Contact Tariq

Tariq Siddiqi
Commercial Director

Tel: +44 1276 486 477

Email:tariq.siddiqi@william-russell.com

LinkedIn: Connect with Tariq on LinkedIn here