Sportscover Australia’s new CEO Simon Allatson says he is excited about growing the specialist sports underwriting agency.

As reported in a Breaking News bulletin on Friday, Mr Allatson started in the role today, based in Melbourne.

He replaces David Lamb, who left last September following a dispute. Mr Lamb has since joined Aon as Head of Sport.

Sportscover has been expanding the number of countries in which it does business, and Mr Allatson will continue this work.

“I am looking forward to playing a major role in the continuing growth and development of Sportscover in Australia and throughout the region,” he said.

Mr Allatson has held various 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 professional basketball team.

Sportscover MD Chris Nash says 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.”