Michael John Wade

Michael John Wade, born May 22, 1954 is a British executive with extensive experience in listed PLC organisations, most notably at Lloyd’s of London Lloyd's of London. Throughout his career Wade has worked within the Lloyd’s insurance market where he has been Chairman or CEO of many firms as well as creating a number of programmes through various types of pro bono work. Wade currently holds the title of Chairman of Besso Insurance Group Ltd, a position he has held since 2011.
Prior to his position with Besso, Wade was the Chairman of Optex Group Ltd from 2006 before it became acquired by Besso Limited in 2011. Wade also spent several years as the non-executive Chairman Lloyd’s broker Bowood Holdings prior to an October 2008 trade sale.
In his early career, Wade partnered with John Holman & Sons in 1980 to form Holman Wade Ltd specialising in reinsurance. This firm became merged into Horace Clarkson in 1984 and then floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1986 as Horace Clarkson plc.
He resigned from Clarksons with Sir Peter Parker in 1993 to work on forming the CLM Insurance Fund plc which was one of the first ‘corporate capital’ vehicles at Lloyd’s which Wade had pioneered during the Lloyd’s crisis leading up to 1992.
During his time with CLM, Wade was Chief Executive Officer before merging the group with a rival firm in 1999 and then he chose to step down and focus on the Rostrum Group Ltd.in 2000.
Wade worked with Lord Hodgson in creating the investment management firm known as the Rostrum Partnerships which invested in specialist Lloyd’s underwriting companies on behalf of major UK pension funds on a five year contract to 2005.
Over the course of his career, Wade also served in several committees including the Council of Lloyd’s - then the regulator of the market - and the Committee of Lloyd’s. Also, the Parliamentary Liaison Committee and the Lloyd’s Taskforce chaired by Sir David Rowland. Wade was also a member of the pre-2010 Election Conservative Party initiative called the Economic Competitiveness Policy Group.
During Wade’s working years, he also focused much interest on his pro bono work. One of his most notable ventures from early on was the creation of the . Wade chaired the programme for five years before stepping down, and the programme recently celebrated its twentieth year in operation.
In addition, Wade founded Opera Interludes in 1989 which became London Festival Opera where he still sits as honorary Chairman. Wade spent time as a member of the HRH Prince of Wales Business Leader’s Forum, launched Snapshot Appeal for the National Society for Epilepsy and founded the Trafalgar Park Trust in 1996. This trust was founded based on Wade’s interest in Trafalgar Park. In 1995 Wade acquired the historic house and began the process of using it as a venue for the arts and cultural events. Since that time there has been extensive restoration and the private home has also become a public venue used for weddings, operas and even the filming of major movies. Wade is still deeply involved in Trafalgar Park and the plan to complete its restoration.
Wade has served as an honorary Treasurer of the British Conservative Party since 2000 and chaired various donor groups such as Team 1000 and Party Patrons.
In 1997 Wade married Dr Caroline Dashwood, the daughter of Sir Francis Dashwood Bt at the family home of West Wycombe Park in Buckinghamshire, England. They have a son, Alexander Francis Neville Wade who was born in 1998 now at Harrow School in north London.
Wade is related to Neville Wadia who had married Dina, the daughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah the founder of Pakistan. Wade’s grandfather had changed their family name to Wade as they settled in England; however, they come from a long line of shipbuilders and followers of Zoroastrianism. The founder of the Wadia line was Lovji Wadia who began working with the British East India Company in 1736 and founded the Bombay Docks. His direct descendant was Ardaseer Wadia an elected Fellow of the Royal Society in London where he was a frequent visitor and attended the wedding of Queen Victoria in 1840. Wade is a direct male line to these and other members of the Wadia family.
Wade has written a number of papers comparing the Lloyd’s reinsurance ‘spiral’ crisis of the 1980s to that of the financial markets crisis of 2007 - these were published by the Financial Times and also the Daily Telegraph during 2008. He is a member of Brooks’s Club in St. James’s, London and is listed at Debrett’s.

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