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Matthew Donaldson, Chief Operating Officer
Matthew has twenty years' experience in financial services and holds an MBA. Prior to joining the Group, Matthew held a number of senior posts in retail financial services and general insurance distribution, joining the Group in 1999 following the acquisition of a high street broker chain. In 2004, as Managing Director of BRL, Matthew also led the development and execution of the Group's e-commerce entry strategy, resulting in the exponential growth of the existing intermediary businesses and the creation of comparethemarket.com. In 2005, Matthew was appointed as Group Director to manage a portfolio of existing and emerging businesses, becoming Chief Operating Officer in 2010. Over this period, he has led the growth of the commercial operations within the Group and enjoys responsibility for all of the Group's UK trading entities, Group HR and Courtanet (France). Matthew is also a Non-Executive Director of Cambridge Building Society.
Kal Atwal, Group Director, Brand-led Businesses
Kal joined the BGL Group more than 10 years ago – initially as a Senior Marketing Manager for Bennetts, before progressing to Managing Director during the brand's most profitable period. In July 2007, Kal was appointed Managing Director of comparethemarket.com, which has become one of the UK's leading price comparison sites under her leadership. Kal now holds Board responsibility for Bennetts and Courtanet, BGL's recently acquired French aggregator business. She also leads new business ventures and has retained strategic marketing oversight for comparethemarket.com. This is to ensure it continues to deliver the quality of marketing that has underpinned its dramatic growth over the past few years.
Prior to BGL, Kal's previous roles included Marketing Analyst for Northcliffe Newspapers and promoting Inner City regeneration at the Derby Chamber of Commerce. Kal also spent a year in Madrid working for Ernst and Young Accountants.
In recognition for her services to business, Kal was recently awarded an honorary degree from Sheffield Hallam University, where she studied International Business and Spanish.
Martin Overton, Group Director – Legal Services and Emerging Value Chain
Martin joined the BGL Group in April 2006 as Director of Commercial and Corporate Services, before moving to head up Business Development for Junction in 2007. In January 2009, Martin became Managing Director of the Group's claims management arm, ACM.
Martin now has Board responsibility for ACM and BGL's legal services provider, Minster Law.
A qualified barrister, Martin has a wealth of experience in business, commercial and proposition development. He began his career at Harveys of Bristol as General Counsel/Assistant Company Secretary and then moved to Eastern Energy (TXU) where he held a number of positions including Company Commercial Lawyer, Head of Group Strategy and subsequently Head of Business Development, before moving into management consultancy with Ernst & Young.
Paul Galligan, Managing Director, comparethemarket.com
Paul joined the Group in August 2008 as Director of Bennetts. During his tenure Paul drove significant growth, delivering record levels of sales and renewals in order to enhance
Bennetts' position as the leading brand in motorbike insurance.
Paul started his career with Capital Bank before moving to HBOS,
working in the Partnerships division, where he led a number of affinity relationships and joint ventures with some of the UK's leading brands. He then went on to be Head of Products for Sainsbury's Bank where he was responsible for the sales and profitability of its Lending, Savings and Insurance products.
David Thompson, Managing Director, Fusion
David has over 15 years' experience of managing complex sales and service environments at a senior level and a track record of managing significant operational change. David held the position of Director of Operations at Cygnific UK (KLM) and Toad plc, before moving to esure as Head of Operations.
David joined the Group in 2005 as Operations Director for Fusion where he has overall responsibility for service, performance and costs at the four Fusion sites. David's appointment to Managing Director in 2006 means he now has full responsibility for the whole of the Fusion business.
Peter Thompson, Managing Director, Junction
Peter joined BGL as Managing Director of Junction, the business-to-business arm of the Group in January 2008. Junction is the most successful affinity outsourcing intermediary in the UK with over 1.7 million customers under management on behalf of our partner brands.
Peter has spent 24 years working in the UK insurance industry, in both commercial and personal lines; two years in broking and 16 years at Royal and SunAlliance where he was responsible for non-motor personal lines corporate partnerships. A business-to-business specialist, Peter joined HBOS in 2003 as Head of Commercial Insurance and in 2005 became Managing Director of Partnerships for the Group, responsible for the profitable growth of multi product joint ventures and all intermediated insurance distribution. Throughout his time at HBOS he served on the General Insurance Management Board and through his Group Partnerships role undertook a number of Non-Executive posts.