Former Paragon brokers unveil London wholesaler Lumen Specialty

By Rebecca Delaney

July 2 - (The Insurer) - The co-CEOs of specialist professional liability broker Lumen Specialty announced their roles at the new entity on LinkedIn on Wednesday.

The Insurer was the first to report in April that a four-strong team had left Paragon International Insurance Brokers to launch a new venture with support from AUB Group.

The quartet, comprising James Furlonge, Charlie Hargreaves, Joshua Allen and Shalika Mudiyanselage, opted against joining the Ardonagh Group as part of the UK broking firm’s A$2.3 billion ($1.5 billion) acquisition of Paragon parent PSC Insurance Group.

Furlonge and Hargreaves announced their new roles as co-CEOs of Lumen on LinkedIn on Wednesday.

Furlonge began his insurance career with Paragon nearly 14 years ago, while Hargreaves joined Paragon in January 2022 following more than four years with Aon.

Hargreaves and Furlonge are listed as Lumen directors on Companies House, alongside AUB Group chief financial officer Mark Shanahan and former Tysers board director Toby Humphreys.

In addition, Allen updated his LinkedIn profile to his new role as principal at Lumen. He had joined Paragon in November 2023 following more than eight years in a London-based broking role with Aon.

Mudiyanselage has taken on the role of principal, claims, having held increasingly senior claims roles at Paragon over eight years.

According to Lumen's newly created LinkedIn profile, it is focused on professional liability, employment liability, management liability, environmental liability, cyber and tech.