speakers on the panel discussions

Robert has over 30 years’ experience in financial services, working with numerous Insurers where he has focussed on Protection development , specialising in Business , Wealth, and Estate planning , he has also spent time as a corporate adviser in the employee benefits and group propositions market.  

His roles have covered sales and sales management and for the past decade has been successfully spearheading adviser development, training & proposition development to help bring protection front and centre of adviser and client engagement .  Robert has been a regular industry speaker for over 20 years and has been influential in many leading industry bodies. 

His focus now with Royal London’s Specialist Protection team, is to continue to grow and evolve Adviser understanding of the role of protection in the areas of corporate and estate planning, to help them better connect with their clients and deliver robust , value for money protection strategies.

Away from work Robert is based in Sheffield with his wife and daughter, where they enjoy walking in the peak district with their family dog Benni. 

Justin’s first foray into Financial Services was in Australia in 1997 with Commonwealth Bank of Australia working predominately in retail mortgage lending. He emigrated to Scotland in 2002 where he worked in broker consultant roles with both Scottish Widows and Scottish Life before spending a brief period as an Employee Benefits Consultant dealing predominately with Auto Enrolment and associated business consultancy. 

Justin has studied continuously since arriving on these sunny shores and holds the Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning including the CeMap and Lifetime Mortgage qualifications. Since arriving in Scotland, his primary focus has been pension planning and he holds the AF3 & AF7 qualifications as well as being a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society.

Justin’s current role involves researching, building and presenting adviser facing CPD accredited presentations on a range of pension industry topics, as well as writing articles for trade press and providing thought leadership on industry issues.

He’s an avid cricket fan, but as he lives in Scotland, no one seems very interested!

Paula has worked successfully in the Protection market for the past 28 years, holding roles in Relationship Management, having worked up through sales support to Strategic Account Management whilst managing the field team at Zurich.   Paula is driven to make a difference for advisers and their customers, helping to provide protection cover on an inclusive basis with quality products.  

With experience in most channels from aggregation, intermediaries, protection specialists, mortgage brokers and wealth firms, her knowledge provides quality conversations on products, processes, distribution.  Protecting families and businesses for if they need it, is paramount to her values.

When she is not working hard at Zurich you can find her travelling, cooking, watching sport or spending time with her family and friends.

Scott has been a Trust and Estate Planning Consultant for QB Partners since 2018. Scott is a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society, Chartered Financial Planner, and law graduate. He has a broad background in financial planning with large financial services organisations both in the UK and internationally, including developing and promoting business protection propositions. He is a will writer as a member of the Society of Will Writers, and part-way through the ADIT (Advanced Diploma in International Taxation) qualification. 

QB Partners is an independent, fee based specialist which provides business-to-business support to financial advisers and product providers in relation to complex and cross border financial planning. Scott can be contacted (below)  with any questions about today’s event or any other matter requiring support from the QB Partners team. 

Jim McLaughlin is an experienced financial services professional with nearly four decades of experience since 1986. He specialises in business succession planning through tailored insurance solutions. Jim is passionate about helping business owners protect the value they've created in their companies—ensuring their years of hard work are safeguarded. He designs comprehensive insurance strategies that secure business continuity, fund buy-sell agreements, and provide liquidity for ownership transitions. As a membership adviser for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Jim translates complex succession concepts into practical plans. His expertise in value protection through strategic insurance solutions makes him an invaluable resource for business owners looking to secure their company's future across generations.

Jude is one of the Field Based Protection Specialist at Zurich and along with her Protection Consultant  and Specialist colleagues will engage with you at firm and individual level. 

Jude has worked in the financial services industry for many years with a wide experience in Protection/ Wealth and General Insurance sectors. The last 10 years have been predominantly in the life and protection space which is an area she believes in passionately, protecting individuals, families and business’ across all areas of family/ mortgage / business / wealth and estate planning. Growing protection and working with you to grow your protection business and provide training across our proposition is her role.

Can be found doing crazy fund raisers for Zurich Community Trust such as abseiling down the Acelor Mital Orbital in the Olympic Park and the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and enjoys her down time with family and friends in the rural village where she loves the community and countryside.  

Paul has worked in the protection sector since 1986 and with the CIExpert team since December 2020 with the key objective to further enhance CIExpert’s reputation as the UK’s leading independent & impartial protection comparison platform. He has played a key role in the development of CIExpert’s CIC & SIC comparison services, their award-winning policy information hub - the Insurer Insight Zone, health & wellbeing services, as well as working on collaborations with technology, insurer and distribution partners. He was previously Head of Protection at Old Mutual Wealth, Head of Intermediary Distribution at LifeQuote and Sales Development Manager at Aegon. A keen musician, Paul plays in his band The Extra Covers at events across the south west and considers himself the oldest lead guitarist in his village!

I’m Head of Business Development at Towergate Employee Benefits with over 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry, specialising in business protection and employee benefits. 

My industry passion lies in highlighting the under-insurance gap for SMEs. Towergate looks after SMEs across a range of insurances and Business Protection presents a good opportunity to highlight the importance of business continuity planning. 

Daniel began his career in Financial Services in 2013 as a Mortgage and Protection Advisor. In 2017, he founded Wyke Financial – Mortgage & Protection Specialists – with a mission to provide trusted, tailored advice to clients across the UK.

Since then, Daniel has grown Wyke Financial into a thriving team of 7 experienced brokers, collectively completing thousands of protection cases. His deep understanding of the protection space, combined with years of hands-on experience, places him in a strong position to lead conversations around personal and business protection.

With the mortgage and protection division continuing to flourish, Daniel has now turned his focus toward Business Protection—helping business owners safeguard their interests, families, and teams through tax-efficient life cover, shareholder protection, key person insurance, and comprehensive employee benefits.

Recognising the significant gap in awareness and provision in this space, Daniel is launching a new arm of the Wyke group in 2025: a dedicated business focused solely on Business Protection. He will be partnering with a highly experienced Business Protection Advisor (to be announced in June 2025) to bring greater clarity and solutions to businesses across Northamptonshire and beyond