Advo’s CEO, Larry Bulmer, has had an extraordinary career spanning nearly four decades. An industry leader advising on staff benefits he helped shape the current benefits industry. Now the aim is to do the same for the UK’s HR and Payroll sector.
“After working with BUPA for a few years within their advisory division I founded a specialist health insurance brokerage in 1996. This was the beginnings of Advo. The market for medical insurance at the time was expanding and with new insurers entering the market and an increasing demand for independent advice. The business grew over the years until merging with another brokerage, Excellent Health. By this time we were offering a full range of employee benefits to clients.
Via a number of strategic acquisitions there was a natural expansion into HR and payroll from 2016 onwards. This seemed a natural progression given the synergy between rewarding and paying staff , following employee legislation and staff wellbeing. This allowed Advo to offer consulting across the full range of employer needs, focussed on UK SME clients. From 2016 onwards I led the acquisition activity of Advo which continues to this day with two payroll company acquisitions within the last year.
Prior to working at BUPA, I had a variety of different positions. The one constant linking these was they were all customer facing. From working in advertising sales, front of house theatre management, flooring and security surveying and numerous hospitality jobs as well. This taught me that to be successful you absolutely must put the client front and centre at all times. This is something that I have always championed and continues to be the core principle of Advo.
2024 saw a major change with Advo as we divested the employee benefits business after a triumphant showing at the Health Insurance awards where Advo were awarded the best UK advisory firm accolade. With the market changing it felt that this was the right time to focus solely on HR and payroll. Advo had also acquired a substantial building in Kent, and with a changing office climate post pandemic, we are now investing £2M to bring this building back to life as a community business hub.
Larry receiving awards (of which there are many) and leading from the front at an Advo Sports Day
Throughout my career I have been lucky enough to have had lots of differing positions and variety in the work that I have done. This experience has given me tremendous insight into how many different businesses function – something that has helped me to drive Advo to the client centric company that it is today.
I continue to learn new things everyday and remain intensely curious, which helps drive new ideas and ways of working for Advo. I look ahead to the future with a great enthusiasm for what Advo has yet to achieve.”