Meet the team: Nick Houghton, JM Glendinning Group MD

How did your career in insurance begin?

Like pretty much everyone I know in insurance, I fell into it as a career. I studied classical art history, design and physics A’levels so it wasn’t a natural career path. It was my dad who suggested I wrote to insurance companies when I left school, so I wrote to a couple and was successful in getting a job at Eagle Star, where I stayed for 10 years. I gained an invaluable grounding there which I still use to this day.

What brought you to JM Glendinning?

My wife and I relocated to Newcastle with Eagle Star. Newcastle is a city which I still love and very much enjoy visiting when I meet with our North East team. After 12 months of being there, the office closed and I moved to Alexander Forbes (then Alfred Blackmore), where I had a brilliant mentor who taught me how to sell insurance

We decided to move back to Yorkshire after we had kids, which is when I got a job with Towergate. I was there for seven years and it was there I was given the opportunity to run a couple of amazing businesses and, again, learn so much from some incredible insurance entrepreneurs. Towards the end though I became disillusioned with corporate life. JM Glendinning was a customer of my last role at Towergate and so I knew Paul Glendinning. We got talking about what it would be like to work together and take his family business on a real growth journey. It felt right and so I jumped at the opportunity and I’ve never looked back!

What do you enjoy about your role?

I love being able to hand pick the people I work with and having the freedom of thinking for myself. Everything I do is for the good of the business, for employees and for customers.

What’s the secret to your success?

I pride myself in being genuine and consistent. I am fair and don’t shy away from making tough decisions. And, where possible, I do everything with good humour.

What advice would you give to someone starting their career?

Speak to people who have gained good experience in the marketplace and find out lots from them. Understand the market dynamics. Know what you’re good at and become really good at it. Never lose sight of doing the right thing.

What’s next for JM Glendinning?

Continued growth for the business by bringing in more classically-trained, disenfranchised people from the insurance market and sponsoring them to set up a business where they can really shine.

What Paul Glendinning, JM Glendinning group CEO says:

It has been a pleasure to work alongside Nick these last 7 years, we have had great fun working together. I’m very pleased Nick chose J M Glendinning all those years ago as his next opportunity. Only downside is that Nick is 3 – 1 up at our singles Golf…