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Ex-Swinton duo Normand and Beaven join Academy as it receives Blixt PE injection

Gilles Normand

Academy Insurance Services has been given external investment from private equity house Blixt Group with its sights set on growth through further acquisition.

The move has seen Gilles Normand (pictured) and Richard Beaven join the business as CEO and COO respectively, with Brendan McCafferty joining as chairman.

Normand was previously CEO of Swinton and joined Saga as COO at the end of 2019.

Beaven also worked at Swinton as distribution director before becoming COO of Brightside in 2019. According to LinkedIn he has recently been worked as managing director of Unlike Group, which he describes as a “boutique consultancy working with insurance

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