Specialist sports underwriting agency Sportscover Australia has appointed former Athletics Australia boss Simon Allatson as its new CEO.

Mr Allatson starts on Monday, based in Sportscover’s Melbourne office.

The CEO role has been vacant since the departure of David Lamb in September, following a dispute.

Sportscover last year said Mr Lamb was dismissed “for performance and misconduct issues”, but he disputed that, saying he was confronted after raising concerns about the company.

Mr Allatson has held a number of senior sports sector roles including executive director at New Zealand Tennis, executive director at Australian Swimming, CEO of Athletics Australia and CEO of the Sydney Kings.

Sportscover MD Chris Nash told insuranceNEWS.com.au an “exhaustive selection process” considered “first-class applicants from both the insurance and sports worlds”.

“This is a really exciting time for Sportscover, with the sports market going through a transformation generally in a number of areas such as women’s sport, technological advances and funding changes,” he said.

“We believe Simon is well placed to give us an even greater affinity with our clients and their needs going forward.”

More details in our regular bulletin on Monday.