Howden Employee Benefits has appointed Jeff Fox as executive director, platform and engagement solutions.
In this role he will further the development of Howden’s platform and engagement strategy, including its Flex proposition and communications capabilities.
He will also work work across the wider employee benefits business to bring together technology, data, insight, artificial intelligence, automation and communications, to enable clients to create a more connected employee benefits experience.
Fox joins from Lockton where he was specialty services lead, heading its specialist employee benefits team. He previously spent 11 years at Aon as a principal, and has also held senior consultancy roles at Benefex, Mercer and KPMG. During his career he has focused on the application of technology and AI to HR, reward and benefits decision-making.
Overall Fox has more than 25 years’ experience working across employee benefits technology, digital transformation and the people-related aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Howden has made a number of acquisitions in recent years, including Barnett Waddingham last year.
In this new role he will report to Cheryl Brennan, managing director of Howden Employee Benefits.
Brennan says this appointment forms part of Howden Employee Benefits’ continued investment in technology, automation, AI and data, supporting its ambition to improve client outcomes and drive the continued growth of the business.
Brennan adds: “There is a significant opportunity to rethink the role technology plays in employee benefits. Employers increasingly expect more than a platform to administer their programmes – they want better insight, simpler experiences, stronger engagement and demonstrable value from their investment.
“Our ambition is to bring together the breadth of Howden’s capabilities with technology, data, AI and communications to create something genuinely differentiated for our clients and their employees. Investment in benefits technology delivers the greatest value when the communication and engagement around it genuinely connect with people.
“[Fox’s] appointment is an important part of that ambition. We intend to lead this market rather than follow it, and to build an employee technology and engagement proposition that becomes a compelling choice for employers.”
Fox adds: “The opportunity is much bigger than building a better benefits platform. The future is about connecting insight, advice, technology and engagement so employers can make better decisions and employees can get more value from the benefits available to them.
“Technology should remove complexity rather than create it. Too often, strong benefits strategies fall short at the point of delivery because employees do not understand or engage with what is available to them. Data and AI can help us better understand what employees need, automation can make benefits easier to manage, and great communications can turn a benefits programme into something employees genuinely understand and value.”