She takes over at the award-winning, Sheffield-based not for profit health insurance business from Graham Moore, who joined the business nearly 25 years ago and will now concentrate on his role as non-executive chairman.

Jill Davies is currently Westfield's deputy chief executive and has led its sales and marketing team for more than 13 years.

Graham Moore said: "Continuity is vital to the success of any organisation and that has been central to this change.

"Jill and I have worked in a strong and effective partnership for more than 13 years and there is a huge amount of shared mutual respect between us, which has made the gradual shift in the balance of responsibilities during the past year such a seamless process.

"We are proud that together we have masterminded and managed significant change in Westfield's business development, building on the solid regional foundations of the organisation to become a recognised leading provider of health cash plans."

Jill Davies paid tribute to Mr Moore's leadership.

"When Graham arrived at Westfield in 1985, we largely serviced local contributors and companies," said Jill.

"As well as caring for our local valued and loyal stakeholders, Westfield now operates all over Britain providing plans for prestigious leading UK companies and organisations such as the British Chambers of Commerce and the Institute of Directors.

"We owe much to Graham and through him Westfield is now offering more people the healthcare benefits of a Westfield plan than ever before."

Westfield has more than doubled its turnover from £21.1 million in 1996 to £51.3 million today. Over the same period, the number of policyholders has risen from 268,000 to more than 370,000 and the number of companies operating a Westfield plan for their employees has increased from 3,100 to more than 9,500.


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