For James Eveling (pictured), taking on his new role as managing director of the loss adjuster Woodgate & Clark presented a best-of-both-worlds opportunity – the chance to try his hand at something new, in the context of a business he knew well and deeply respected.
He first became familiar with the business through its parent company Van Ameyde Group where he acted as the lead corporate advisor on the group’s acquisition of Woodgate & Clark itself and the subsequent deals that have bolstered its reach in the UK marketplace since then. From his time with the group, it became clear they shared a strong alignment of values, ethos and ambition, he said, and so it felt like a natural next step to succeed former MD Phil Scarrett when he announced his retirement after 44 years in insurance.
It has been a great, albeit very busy, first six months, Eveling said, and with over 300 people in the business, every day brings something new. With a roster of both blue-chip and smaller clients and a great team spread across the country, his first half-year in post has seen him do a lot of travelling to visit the firm’s satellite branch offices and familiarise himself with the internal and external stakeholders that make Woodgate & Clark tick.
“I felt it was really important for me, particularly not coming from a loss adjusting background, to get around the country and see people individually, to know what they’re doing, who they’re working with and what they want to see from me,” he said. “I’ve said to our people that I’m really here to give them the platform to help them do what they do best… It’s my job to make sure they get what they want from the management team to allow them to do that.”
The team is more interested than ever in what Woodgate & Clark is doing on the people and culture side of the business, he said, and in the initiatives being put in place to support them and their careers. The business is proud to have quite strong staff retention and to include a number of colleagues who have been with the firm for many years and are very loyal to the brand and the values that underpin the business.
“We’ve made great strides over the last 12 months but our [ambition] is not to wholesale change the culture which is a good culture, but rather to reinforce that and to further invest in our people,” he said. “That includes investing in wellbeing platforms and we’re actually signed up, as a group, as a ‘Great Place to Work’ and we’re going for accreditation in the UK in 2024.
“That shows our real commitment to the welfare of our staff, and to hiring the right people and enough people to support the workload, particularly around surge periods. We don’t want people to burn out, we don’t want people overstressed. We want to create sustainable and sensible work levels and support our people where they need our support.”
The firm is working towards an 8%-to-10% revenue growth target, which Eveling feels is achievable in terms of the workflow the team is seeing in the early days of 2024 and the support it has from existing clients. An aggressive acquisition strategy is not on the cards, he said, though Woodgate & Clark will continue its strategy of acquiring firms where it sees a strong culture fit and a service line it doesn’t currently possess – as seen with its acquisitions of Spotlite and Quadra.
“I really want to focus on organic growth because I think there’s an awful lot more we can do with our fantastic client base,” he said. “As to what that growth looks like, there’s been a lot going on in the back end of 2023 and going into 2024. We now have far more structured client services and business development teams… There’s far more focus on what we should be doing with which clients, and on understanding what areas we really want to target and how we can promote that.”
The business is working very closely with the managers of different product lines to make sure it’s promoting those product lines appropriately, he said, and investing in ensuring each team has the proper resources to continue the strong business performance enjoyed by the firm over the last few years. The development of its quality assurance team has gone down especially well with clients.
Other developments include the evolution of its building repair network, which he strongly believes is the best of its kind in the market, not least because it’s led by people with building experience.
Eveling said he’s feeling very positive about the year ahead, and shared what a great 2024 looks like for him and his team.
“I want to see a happy, motivated team,” he said.
