A self-professed market- ing genius, Peter Wood has pioneered groundbreaking methods of selling insurance, founding telephone-based Direct Line in 1985 and, more recently, utilising the internet to bolster esure, of which he is the current chairman and chief executive, writes Damien Henderson.

Wood is the brains behind the "calm down dear" adverts featuring Michael Winner and the Sheilas' Wheels brands, both of which have contributed to esure expanding amid a gloomy economic outlook elsewhere.

Following an early career in IT with a number of global companies, Wood founded Direct Line Insurance in the UK and built it up to become the country's largest private motor insurer and one of the country's leading direct financial services brands.

It was the first company to use the telephone as a primary selling method and is credited with changing the shape of marketing and customer service in the UK financial services industry.

The huge success of Direct Line, owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, made Wood Britain's highest-paid company director for three years running in the 1990s.

During the 1990s, Wood served as a director of Bankinter in Spain and also founded four other insurance companies around the world including Linea Directa Aseguradora, a company serving the Spanish direct insurance market, and Privilege Insurance, a second joint venture with Royal Bank. In 1994, he also became a director of Plymouth Rock, a privately-owned property and casualty insurance holding company, incorporated in Massachusetts, USA.

Outside insurance, Wood owns two high-profile UK restaurants. His business partner is the UK television celebrity chef Tony Tobin. He is also the largest private investor in the model railway and car brand, Hornby Scalextric.

He was awarded CBE in 1996 in recognition of his contribution to the UK financial services industry.