Davies promotes Mike Heard to president of operations for North America

Davies, a London-headquartered professional services firm focusing on the insurance industry, has promoted Mike Heard to president of operations for North America.

Heard is based in Indianapolis and joined Davies in May 2024 as COO of the life and health division. He has over 30 years of experience in life and health insurance, with deep expertise across distribution, product management, operations, and technology functions.

In his new role, Heard will be responsible for day-to-day back-office operations as well as driving Gen AI strategy. 

“This promotion…supports our ongoing push to standardize processes, increase efficiency and further innovate across our organization,” said Dhara Patel, CEO for North America, to whom Heard will report. “Mike will also play a key role in the development of Davies North America’s automation and GenAI strategy for the North American division, to support our focus on leveraging technology to transform its operational capabilities and deliver exceptional value to customers.”

Heard was previously president of the worksite division at CNO Financial Group, president at Washington National Insurance Company, SVP of business strategy and product support at Genworth, and VP of operations at GE.

He has master’s and bachelor’s degrees in industrial engineering from Purdue University.

“I’m thrilled to take on the role of President of Operations for our North American market,” Heard said. “I’m eager to build on the strong foundation we have, develop our operational strategy further and deliver greater value to our clients through faster, smarter and more responsive operations.”

Davies has a team of more than 8,500 professionals across 20+ countries. The firm serves over 1,700 insurance, financial services, public sector, and other highly regulated clients.

Davies has practices in claims management, forensic accounting, technology, insurance and risk, and consulting. The firm’s consulting practice has offerings in specialist operations, financial crime and regulatory compliance, organizational performance, and customer experience, among other areas.

Davies is majority-owned by BC Partners, which acquired the firm in March 2021.