GRE awards group role to PPP chief

Guardian Royal Exchange has put Simon Rhodes, marketing chief of its PPP Healthcare division, in charge of marketing for the entire business.

The move follows a restructuring of GRE last week and the announcement that it is merging its life and healthcare businesses into a single operation to boost sales and reduce costs.

In his new role as UK marketing director, Rhodes will oversee marketing for PPP and other GRE divisions, including Guardian Direct.

He will review all aspects of the company’s marketing, and he will examine whether to axe the PPP name in favour of Guardian, though the company says this is unlikely.

Rhodes joined PPP Healthcare last year from Scottish Courage, where he was brands director for lagers (MW April 4 1997). GRE bought PPP last February.

As part of the shake-up at GRE, PPP’s new life insurance business Lifetime Care is buying Guardian’s life insurance business for 220m. In return, Guardian will inject 300m into the operation.

It was also announced last week that Peter Owen, former chief of PPP healthcare will become GRE’s executive director for UK and Ireland.