Fitzgerald is the distribution director of group protection at Legal & General. His career in the employee benefits industry spans more than 40 years including leadership roles at Unum and Bupa.

GRiD is the industry body for the group risk sector and promotes the value of providing financial protection for employees to UK businesses. Its membership includes insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, and those operating in the UK group risk market.

Fitzgerald will focus on bringing more visibility to the contribution the group risk industry makes to employers, employees, and their families, as well as highlighting the potential for growth.

He will also be focusing on bringing members together to collaborate in educating clients on the key role group risk benefits play as part of an organisational wellbeing strategy.

GRiD new chair Colin Fitzgerald said: “What we do matters, and so many more employers, their employees and their families should be benefiting from the products and services we provide.

“I’m proud of how, as an industry, we’ve evolved from the focus purely on paying claims to bringing additional value through a comprehensive range of support services for employees. It’s the most significant change I’ve witnessed in my career. It’s exciting to see how the value-added benefits within group risk support employees of all ages, as well as their families, and a key part of my role at GRiD will be to work with the industry to tell this story better.”