Obituary: David Slade, 19 February 1944 - 4 October 2024

The founder, chairman, and chief executive of Perkins Slade Limited passed away on Friday, 4 October 2024, after a glittering insurance career that had a much wider influence and impact than the area he predominantly worked in, his birthplace, Birmingham.

Having left school at 16, David started his career in 1961 at Royal Exchange Insurance before joining Midlands broker Hogg Robinson three years later.

After a spell as sales manager at the Birmingham office of Walker Moate Simpson – where he was told he did not have “the right accent for sales” – he co-founded Perkins Slade in 1970 aged 26 with David Perkins, in order to tap into a large market of industrial and manufacturing companies.

With the pen of insurer Generali, Perkins Slade soon built up a strong book of business including property, accident, liability and marine.

Wonderful, wonderful time

The two men behind the business eventually split, leaving David to focus on traditional broking. In the boom years, from 1983 to 1988, the business grew by almost 800%, an era that he told Insurance Age he looked back on as a “wonderful, wonderful time”.

David sold the business to the Birmingham Midshires Building Society – now a subsidiary of HBOS – only to buy it back a few years later and grow it both organically and via acquisitions, most notably in Hampshire and the West Country.

However, whilst he admired the more active M&A appetite of others in the broking sector, David had no intention of following the likes of Oval and Towergate at the time into becoming a ‘consolidator’.

Admiration

In 2006 he told Insurance Age: “Not everybody wants top buck. Some brokers are more concerned about their staff and customers than their bank account. We present a different kind of transaction to the consolidators that need to keep growing through acquisition – I don’t need to keep growing in that way.”

He added: “I admire them – [Oval CEO] Philip Hodson, [Towergate CEO] Peter Cullum and the others are brilliant businessmen who borrow money at a hugely discounted rate, invest it in high turnover businesses and will one day sell it to some investor in the market for a big profit. That’s far too clever for me. I have to stick to being an insurance broker.”

Indeed, David was key to the 1997 launch of Unitas, a network that connected independent insurance brokers in other regions together to strengthen their offer to compete against national and international broker.

In 2002, David’s fellow shareholders decided they wanted to turn their shares into cash and Perkins Slade was on the verge of a deal with national broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson but it was never completed.

Working with Ron Forrest

Instead, David called upon an old friend Ron Forrest, formerly chief executive of Aon, to become chairman.

The pair then bought out the shares between them using an umbrella company Perkins Slade Forrest Holdings in January 2003 with David describing this as one of the best moves he ever made: “We complement each other extremely well – my experience is of starting a company, whilst his is being a worldwide chief executive of a massive organisation.”

A key believer in professionalism and giving young people opportunities, David was a key driver and first chair of the Chartered Insurance Institute’s Faculty of Insurance Broking, which was launched in 2004 to help make the CII more market-facing and act as a centre of technical excellence for the broking sector.

David was also a regular speaker at the British Insurance Brokers’ Association forerunner BIIBA (British Insurance and Investor Brokers’ Association) conferences and held the office of BIIBA West Midlands regional chairman.

Following the collapse of takeover talks with Oval in 2008, David became non-executive chairman with Nick Tamblyn, previously financial director, taking over as managing director.

Industry recognition

That year David won the Achievement Award at the UK Broker Awards, and a year later the same award at the British Insurance Awards.

Well-renowned within the insurance industry, David was inducted into the Worshipful Company of Insurers, honoured with the Freedom of the City of London, and made an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

He retired when Perkins Slade was sold to Howden Insurance in 2015.

Community support    

Outside the insurance world, David supported many business and community organisations.

In 1974, he was vice president at Birmingham Junior Chamber. He went on to found Bromsgrove Junior Chamber in 1981, was the West Midlands regional chairman of British Junior Chamber in 1983, was made senator of Junior Chamber International in 1981, and served as British Senate chairman in 1994.   

David chaired the Alexander Theatre Development Trust from 1990 to 1993 and was president of the Birmingham & Edgbaston Debating Society from 1990 to 1991. He was a member of St Paul’s Club in St Paul’s Square, Birmingham, and a key player on the board of Birmingham Forward and the Prince’s Trust in Birmingham.

Closer to home in Bromsgrove, David chaired the team which relaunched the Bromsgrove Carnival in 1982. He joined the Ancient Court Leet and was Court Baron of the Manor of Bromsgrove where he was elected as Bailiff, the head of the Court in November 1998, a year of office that coincided with the celebration of the 800th year since the signing of Bromsgrove’s charter in 1199. 

He was a member of the Bromsgrove Society Executive Committee. Between 2003 and 2005, David chaired the St John’s Landmark Appeal, which raised £650,000 to restore the roof and tower at the Grade I-listed church building. Shortly before retiring, David joined the North Worcestershire Rotary, where he was honoured to receive the Paul Harris Fellowship Award, which recognises outstanding contributions that place “service above self.”

Reputation for ethical practice and integrity

Reflecting on her father this week, his daughter Jo wrote: “Throughout his long and successful career, David showed a tireless passion for running his own business, finding the best solution for his customers, and ensuring the well-being of his valued team of employees.

“He had a reputation for ethical practice and integrity and was seen as forward-thinking and professional. David was held in high regard and respected by those he worked with at Perkins Slade, his many contacts within the insurance industry and the many organisations he was involved with outside of work.” 

A celebration of David’s life will be held at St John’s Church, Bromsgrove, at 2pm on Monday, 28 October, followed by a reception in Guesten Hall at Avoncroft Museum of Buildings. All are welcome to attend.

Born in Birmingham on 19 February 1944 to Leonard and Alison Slade, David attended George Dixon Grammar School for Boys. He married Janet Payne on 15 July 1967, and they had two children, Christopher, born 1970, and Joanne, born 1972. The family lived on Chester Road in Erdington until 1977, when they moved to Rydal Mount in Bromsgrove.