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26 The HIProfile


STUART SCULLION MANAGING DIRECTOR, PRIVATE HEALTH PARTNERSHIP Stuart Scullion’s 15 years in the health insurance industry has


seen him at the thick of the action.Health Insurance editor David Sawers met him to find out more about his latest challenge, in charge of one of the industry’s largest intermediary firms


Stuart Scullion is in training. Not content with recently assuming the reigns as managing director of one of the largest ten private medical insurance (PMI) intermediaries in the UK, he’s taking to the floor.


BIOGRAPHY


Stuart Scullion was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and has been married to his wife, Jill, for 35 years. He has two adult sons, Andrew and Ian, of whom he is “immensely proud”, but says he doesn’t tell them often enough. Since leaving school at the age of 18 he has spent


his entire career in banking, finance and insurance. Scullion is fascinated by emotional intelligence and


believes people are capable of achieving far more than they think they are – “it’s just a case of encouraging them and showing them how”. He includes chess and DIY among his hobbies, but


he has two real passions – his Border Collies, Megan & Harry; and football. If he could have chosen any career it would have been as a professional footballer. He has followed his “beloved” Watford FC for the past 42 years. By his own admission he has little time for negative


people, instead preferring to spend his time with those who are driven to succeed and with a “winning” mentality. He has a self deprecating sense of humour and


says: “If you’re going to dish it out, you’ve got to be prepared to take it. We all spend too much time at work to be miserable – we need to enjoy it while we’re there.” Scullion says he tries to do everything with a smile on his face. He expects his staff to take their responsibilities seriously – but enjoy it along the way. Scullion has been known to do “daft” things for


charity, including having his hair dyed “PHP maroon” and his head shaved. This year he is taking part in a “Strictly PHP” dance competition with a professional dance partner, in aid of the PHP charity of the year – Leeds Children’s Hospital. “I can’t dance!” he says.


When I meet him to discuss his strategy as MD of Private Health Partnership (PHP), the fast-growing Yorkshire-based specialist intermediary, he seems on edge. But it’s not the challenge of assuming the reigns at PHP from Jan Lawson, one of the most highly respected professionals in the health insurance industry, that’s keeping him awake at night. Rather it’s the prospect of donning the sequins for a charity version of a well known dancing competition. To be fair, taking to the floor with a professional dancing partner for charity is one of the


few things that would faze Scullion. His fifteen-plus years in the health insurance industry has seen him carve out a formidable reputation among both providers and intermediaries, while he has been at the heart of some major changes across the industry. He also happens to be one of the most popular personalities in the sector.


Like many, though, he admits that he got into the health insurance industry by chance. His early career saw him climb the ladder from his first role as a clerk at Lloyds Bank through a number of more senior roles at other banks and building societies. After spells at a mortgage broker and then Scottish Provident, a chance meeting with Derry Andrews set him on a ten year adventure growing a PMI provider which was to become a firm broker favourite. The meeting with Andrews came at a crossroads in Scullion’s professional career. But


whatever Andrews said to him, it was enough to persuade Scullion to join Clinicare, the fledgling PMI provider. As part of a three-man team working out of an office in Knightsbridge in London, Scullion


joined a business that was worth some £600,000 of annual premium. It would go on to boast about £39m annual premium income with a workforce of around 75 – a similar value and size as PHP is today, Scullion notes. Since late last year, Scullion has been managing director of PHP, a top ten PMI


intermediary with £43m annual premium and some 75 staff. The appointment is part of a number of changes at PHP which has seen Jan Lawson become group managing director of PHP’s three companies – the care services provider RED ARC, the treatment sourcing service Medical Care Direct and PHP itself. Lawson had been MD of PHP since she co- founded the company in 1989, but is leaving the day-to-day running of PHP in Scullion’s hands, while Christine Husbands is MD of Red Arc.


THE CLINICARE ADVENTURE It’s a role that Scullion clearly relishes, although he remembers his days at Clinicare fondly. A self-professed salesman, he believes that it was there where he first got a taste for running a business, as well as simply winning new business. “I’d like to think that I contributed to driving Clinicare forward as a business,” Scullion says. “It wasn’t me in isolation, it was me as part of a team, but that team was quite clear in


HealthInsurance www.hi-mag.com April 2011


THE HI PROFILE


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