Co-Founder and ex-CEO of Admiral Group
In 1983, David left Oxford University to join Cadbury Schweppes. After five years of accelerated learning, from running a room in the giant Bourneville factory to trying to persuade Americans of the delights of Milk Tray, David left Cadbury’s to go to INSEAD.
From there, he joined the London office of McKinsey where he worked for four fascinating years, consulting across a wide range of industries. David learnt a huge amount at McKinsey, including that consulting wasn’t for him long-term. Henry’s invitation to join him in 1991 to set up Admiral was well-timed and gratefully received.
David was initially responsible for Admiral’s Marketing. He took on the responsibility for Pricing in 1995 and managed the more technical insurance parts of the business – Pricing, Underwriting and Claims. He became Chief Operating Officer then took over as Group CEO when Henry Engelhardt stepped down during the spring of 2016 (David officially began the new role on Friday 13th, 2016!). Milena Mondini joined as Group CEO in January 2021.
David married one of the other founding managers of Admiral, Heather Naylor, in 1994 and they have three children. In 2007, David and Heather started their own charitable foundation, The Waterloo Foundation. The Foundation mainly focuses on helping with world development, the environment, child development and supporting areas in Wales that are underfunded, such as unpaid caregivers.
