Global claims service provider McLarens has appointed Jennifer Barclay as its global head of data & analytics strategy, a newly-created leadership role.
Barclay has 13 years of experience in the insurance sector, having worked with national and international businesses, including Crawford & Company and NFU Mutual. Most recently, she was the head of data management (global) at Beazley.
A management information (MI) and analytics leader, Barclay has notable expertise in leading complex analytical and regulatory projects and a wealth of experience across operations, building, and embedding IT and business solutions and delivering digital transformation programmes.
In her new role at McLarens, Barclay will oversee a team of data professionals and lead the development and implementation of the firm's strategy around data capture, processing, and delivery and championing a data-driven decision culture across the global business.
She will also encompass everything from data governance and quality through to analysis and visualisation, with responsibilities including developing the firm's predictive analytics modelling capabilities.
Read more: McLarens welcomes new senior TPA specialists
Working with McLarens One, the firm's end-to-end global claims platform, Barclay's team is expected to drive innovation and facilitate the delivery of global data sets and dashboarding, utilising data mining, predictive modelling, and machine learning to support insurer and broker clients in modelling around indemnity spend, emerging risk, and claims handling.
“Better data drives better decisions and outcomes for all stakeholders, and this vital role demonstrates our commitment both to client delivery and to our wider digital strategy, in which we are making significant investment,” said Graham Smart, chief commercial officer at McLarens. “The way that we collect and distribute information to clients is rapidly evolving, improving the speed and quality of our client response, and allowing for better loss estimates, reducing indemnity spend, and facilitating a quicker resolution of claims.
“Jennifer is a true leader in her field and is highly experienced in cutting edge technologies, as well as all aspects of regulatory compliance. Her experience of working with brokers and insurers in this regard will be hugely beneficial.”
Barclay will be based in London and reporting to Adam Weiner, the SVP Technology Strategy and Operations at McLarens.
