"There has been an associated increase in onboarding and servicing requirements, so we have refocused the team to meet these new objectives."
The firm's current CEO, Simon Davis, announced that he is taking an extended sabbatical for personal reasons.
Katya was promoted to chief operating officer at Guardian in February and prior to that was proposition director.
Guardian launched in Q3 2018 with a suite of life protection and critical illness products.
Its proposition is now available on the IRESS, iPipeline, Synaptic and LifeQuote portals.
Peter Mann, executive chairman, said: “Guardian has seen huge demand for its proposition at a strategic level. The number of major distribution agreements we’ve secured in our first nine months of trading is an acceleration of our original business plan. With this rapid take-up, there has been an associated increase in onboarding and servicing requirements, so we have refocused the team to meet these new objectives.
“I’m delighted to see Katya promoted; she has a fantastic reputation at Guardian. I look forward to supporting the team as executive chairman as we take the business on to further success.”