A woman who recently led the re-branding of one of Birmingham's oldest businesses is to set up her own company.

Siobhan Race, marketing manager at BHSF, the Birmingham-based nationwide health insurer, will be leaving after ten years to launch Alphabet Place Limited. 

She said: "It will both be a sad and very exciting day, all in one; exciting because of the future plans and opportunities, sad because of some of the terrific people I shall be leaving behind in my team.  

"Working at BHSF for nearly 10 years has allowed me to develop my career and the Company's support during my studies for the CIM examinations was a real help.  

"My successor will enjoy not only a settled team of talented people but well-established brand values and some exciting new initiatives to develop.  Marketing is a business of change and with change comes opportunity."

As BHSF enters its 139th year, the hunt is on for a successor to maintain the standard set and further develop the Company's brand awareness and market reach.

Speaking at the organisation's head office in Ladywood, chief executive Peter Maskell said: "It is a challenge for us because we are losing one of our top players but at the same time it is great to see the development of an individual and the creation of a new business.  

"BHSF's mission statement lays out its commitment to the development of its team, and we genuinely believe that we should maximise the potential of all our people. If you go back to 2002 we didn't really have a marketing department to speak of, whereas now, thanks to a talented group of people, we produce all of our own marketing material, down to in-house design for both printed electronic and media."

Siobhan led the team which recently changed BHSF's branding, which had been largely unchanged for many years.

Mr Maskell added: "It's great to bring in new talent, but it's even better if you can develop it yourself.  BHSF's graduate programme has been the source of several high quality contributors to the business and outside of that, we have developed some terrific people.  

"Our task, as the business continues to expand, is to attract the next generation of talent, giving it room to breathe and grow." 

BHSF is an Investor in People, is ISO 2000/2001 accredited, a winner of the Work-Life Balance Award for small companies and operates a major CSR programme with seven chosen CSR partners. As a not-for-profit organisation with no shareholders, and no dividends to find, it is an organisation which focuses firmly on its stakeholders, be they staff, customers or community.