Ex-Towergate boss Mark Hodges is named new British Gas manager
INSURANCE veteran Mark Hodges has been appointed as managing director of British Gas, taking over from interim manager Ian Peters.
In his new role, which he takes up from 1 June, Hodges will be paid a basic salary of £625,000, as well as an annual bonus of up to 100 per cent of his salary and up to a maximum of 200 per cent if his performance materially exceeds targets, subject to shareholder approval.
Peters is to remain with British Gas’s parent company Centrica, and will take on the role of director, customer facing strategy.
Angelos Anastasiou, utilities analyst at Whitman Howard, said the appointment “seems sensible”.
Shares in Centrica were up slightly by 0.31 per cent yesterday.
PROFILE: MARK HODGES
Mark Hodges joined what was then known as Norwich Union, later to become Aviva, in 1991.
He held a variety of finance, planning and strategy positions throughout his career there, which extended to over 20 years by the time he left.
During his time at the insurer, he played a key role in the acquisition of RAC which was a pivotal move in the company’s transformation into Aviva.
In 2006, Hodges was appointed chief executive of Aviva UK Life and then became chief executive of Aviva UK in 2010.
He spent a relatively short time in this role, before switching to the broking side of the insurance market, taking on the top job at Towergate in 2011.
While he was at Towergate, Hodges oversaw a significant overhaul of the business model.
His departure from the broking group last October was an abrupt one, although perhaps not a surprising move given that the company put itself up for sale the next month, amid fears that it would be forced to breach its banking covenants.
Hodges is a chartered accountant and holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.