New chair announced at Health Shield Friendly Society

Health Shield Friendly Society has announced the appointment of Graham Berville as the new chair of the board, who brings with him 40 years of experience in the financial services sector.

He replaces Julie Hansen who has stepped down from her position after five years of dedicated service in the role.

Graham joined the business in March as a non-executive director working alongside Julie to ensure a seamless handover and will assume the role of chair from 1st July 2025.

Health Shield Friendly Society CEO Jacqui Carr said: "Julie's commitment and leadership have been instrumental in our success.

“We are profoundly grateful for her unwavering dedication and extend our best wishes for the future.

“We’re also excited to welcome Graham, who brings with him extensive experience in financial services and a deep understanding of the mutual sector.

“We’re looking forward to him building on our success as we continue to deliver exceptional value to our members."

Graham has worked in sectors including life and pensions, general insurance and asset management. He has served as a non-executive director and chair for numerous mutual and not-for-profit organisations, currently holding the position of chair at a building society.

Graham said: “Taking over from Julie, who has steered Health Shield Friendly Society through such significant transformation and growth, is a privilege.

“I will work closely with the Board and Senior Management Team to build on Health Shield’s strong heritage and legacy. My focus will be on growth by leveraging our recent investments in systems and infrastructure. We will ensure that we continue to deliver exceptional value to our members and maintain our leading position in the employee health benefits market”

Julie Hansen joined Health Shield Friendly Society in 2015 as a non-executive director on the board, before taking on the chair role, the first female to hold the role in the Society’s history.

She played a pivotal role in driving the society’s strategic vision, leading initiatives in systems and operational transformation, people development and process optimisation and has been a strong advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion.

Julie was also responsible for driving substantial improvements in financial performance, while leading the business as it went on to win multiple industry awards.

Julie said: “I’m delighted to have been part of Health Shield Friendly Society’s history for the past ten years and know that I leave the business in the competent and capable hands of my board colleagues, executive team and all the wonderful staff. I look forward to seeing further growth and development in the future under the new chair, Graham.”

For more information, please visit: https://www.healthshield.co.uk/

Ends

Editors notes

Health Shield is an award-winning friendly society, dedicated to helping businesses stay in the best of health by providing employee health benefits. We started back in 1877, helping railway workers keep their health on track. Today, we’re still steaming ahead, with over 500,000 lives covered. As a not-for-profit mutual, we can put all our efforts into making sure we do things that are important to our customers and members, supporting our mission to help people lead healthy, happy lives.