Nicola Holmes: Schemes leader bringing insurer know-how to broker business with ‘energy, optimism, influence’

After a little over 18 years working her way up the ranks at insurer Hiscox, schemes and private client specialist Nicola Holmes jokes that a “midlife crisis” drove her decision-making to hang up her underwriting gloves and switch her allegiance to broking business Specialist Risk Group (SRG), which she joined in April 2025.

In reality, however, Holmes tells Insurance Times that following a number of staff changes at Hiscox, she felt her professional options were becoming more limited.

So, since she always fancied having a try at broking, she took the plunge to accept a newly created role at SRG to become its divisional director of schemes, niches and private clients following a series of informal conversations with SRG’s deputy chief executive Lee Anderson and people and culture director Joanne Wright.

Speaking exclusively to Insurance Times, Holmes says: “I just got to a point [where] I didn’t have the autonomy to do what I wanted to do. I sat there thinking ‘I can give so much more’ and I want to be able to have the breadth to go and give more. I want to make a difference. I really believe that I can [do this at SRG]. That’s really important to me.”

Holmes joined SRG’s UK retail arm in April 2025 as its divisional director of schemes, niches and private clients – a newly created role designed off the back of SRG’s recent slew of M&A activity. Holmes oversees a team of 77 employees that handles approximately £100m in gross written premium.

SRG has completed 36 acquisitions over the last six years, so one facet of Holmes’ new job is to oversee these bought businesses and work with the individual company directors and management teams to encourage them to “think differently” to facilitate business growth.

“We’re buying these beautiful specialist brokers, [but SRG] didn’t have somebody naturally to look after that business,” she explains. “We’re evolving all the time because of the amount of acquisitions that we’re doing. My job is to inspire, open up doors [and] empower my guys to be the best at what they do.

“My career history has always been built on growing businesses, which I adore and love. That’s what gets me out of bed every day.”

Growth levers

Despite only just entering the broking arena, Holmes is bubbling with ideas and excitement about how she can help SRG’s collection of niche brokers grow.

She explains that the intermediary has adopted a greater focus on organic growth following the appointment of former Lockton chief executive Neil Nimmo as the business’ UK chief executive in June 2025.

Therefore, the primary lever she wants to use to achieve this growth ambition stems from her “one criticism when I sat on the [insurer] side”, demonstrating how transitioning from an insurer background into broking can have benefits.

She explains: “My one criticism when I sat on the [insurer] side, I would always [wonder] why [brokers did not] cross-sell into other business units. You’ve got a lovely private clients team and they don’t talk to the commercial team and cross-sell, so that’s the one thing I’m trying to put into practice. I don’t want us just to think siloed. We should be thinking about what other products [we can recommend]. Can we cross-sell cyber? Can we write the commercial element?

“How can we bring more to that client? So [then], that client can’t go anywhere because we do the professional indemnity, we do their commercial insurance – we do everything.”

The other growth lever Holmes will be actioning is “thinking differently”. For her, this includes casting her net wider for new partner and introducer relationships, as well as exploring which products could be internationalised – taking advantage of SRG’s entry into Singapore and Europe.

She is also considering “opportunities” such as sponsorship arrangements and trade show attendance, pinpointing events that are relevant for each niche broker’s specific sector.

“It’s lots of just thinking differently,” she says. “I’m here to find opportunities [and] pick out ways to get [broker directors] thinking differently.”

Insurer versus broker thinking

This “thinking differently” mantra stems from Holmes’ insurer past – she believes this expertise makes her stand out within SRG’s leadership team and offers a different lens that can help steer success for the broker.

She says: “One of the biggest advantages that I’ve brought to SRG is I’ve got that insurer background and no one else on the executive committee has that.

“It’s the insight I’ve got. I know how to assess risk. I know how to sell a risk to an insurer. I know what’s important to them to make sure we get the best outcome for the client. That’s helped me in terms of broking to an insurer because I know what they want and what is in important to them.

“My insurer background [means] I’m really strong on relationships. Building partnerships is really important to me. That’s what I bring – my relationship skills, thinking openly and differently, being proactive.”

Although she describes her transition from insurer to broker as “seamless” overall, Holmes does confess that the change has not been without its challenges.

For example, although she identifies communication as one of her strengths, she acknowledges that she has had to adapt her “relationship skills to working with clients, working with introducers” rather than just addressing in the know brokers.

Holmes explains: “Communication has always been a really important skill to me and in my leadership style, I lead strongly on communication. [At Hiscox, that was] about broker relationships, but now, how do I expand that to be broker to insurer, broker to client, broker to introducer?

“For me, the challenge has been how you tailor that approach because the guys here know exactly what makes an introducer tick or a client tick – and I don’t know that yet. It’s my job to listen and learn. [Before SRG, I had] never spoken to an end client because you’d always have the broker in the middle.

“As a broker, we’ve got all the knowledge. [As an insurer], we would always talk to brokers [that] knew what they were doing, but now you’re speaking to a client that actually doesn’t [know about their insurance needs].

“It’s around how can you get that information out them? Talking about what they enjoy and what’s important to them to figure out how do we then best match an insurer, how do we best match a product? That’s been interesting.”

Holmes has also enjoyed getting to know the broader insurer market better now that she is outside of the “Hiscox bubble” – which she first entered back in 2007 as a scheme analyst. She comments that she has been “really surprised” by some businesses that she had previously never came across before.

Compelling culture

After firming up that she wanted to give broking a stab, what drew Holmes to SRG specifically?

“The reason I’m here is because of the culture, the people [and] the growth ambition, which gets me out of bed,” she says.

“Why I’m here is I’ve always wanted to try the broking side, but culture is so important to me. I want to be [in] an environment [where] I can thrive, be entrepreneurial. I can make decisions. I’ve got autonomy and [can] make a real difference. I want to work for a business that’s growing, where I can see my career grow.

“My career has been built on growing businesses and that’s what I love. I would never have come to this business if I didn’t think we had massive plans.

“Having the culture and the growth aspirations we’ve got, it’s a beautiful environment to be in and I hope it continues because I know as we get bigger, that’s our biggest concern – how do you keep that culture going? And that is a big part when we do M&A – the culture and people are really important to us.”

Holmes adds that she had heard a lot about SRG’s culture prior to joining the firm and although she initially took the positive attestations with a pinch of salt, she now admits that the broker’s culture “is even better than I imagined”.

Her favourite aspect of SRG’s culture, however, is the workforce’s unity and collaborative attitude.

She explains: “Everybody just wants to help each other. We’ve all got the same goal. We’ve all got the same direction that we’re going [in]. And I’m not used to that. I’ve been used to having different divisions that [have] all got different paths.”

‘Energy, optimism, influence’

Holmes’ passion for her new role at SRG is infectious – she is the epitome of someone who is clearly loving their work.

This joy of the job feeds her leadership style too, with Holmes seeking to be “a charismatic leader”.

“I always lead with energy, optimism, influence. I just love to inspire,” she says.

“I lead with very strong communication skills, emotional intelligence and confidence. I don’t need to be an expert in [every] subject matter. That is not my job. That’s the directors’ level. My job is to empower them to be the best they can be, give them the ability to have ownership, provide support, remove obstacles [that are] stopping [them] writing business, create opportunities. That’s what’s really important to me.”

Putting aside her private clients “comfort blanket”, a field she has strong expertise in, Holmes acknowledges that “everything else is totally new to me” in the broking world – which she describes as “exciting”.

“That’s why I’m here,” she enthuses.