The latest round up of senior level appointments across the insurance sector.
WTW
WTW, a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company (NASDAQ: WTW) today announces that Michael Creighton will assume the newly created role of head of trade credit and trade finance, Great Britain, effective immediately. Reporting to Paul Lacey, head of financial solutions GB, Creighton will be responsible for implementing WTW’s growth strategy for trade credit and trade finance in GB.
Creighton joined WTW in 2019 as executive director within financial solutions and has led a team responsible for the credit and political risk insurance requirements for a portfolio of financial institutions and corporate clients.
Before joining WTW, Creighton was head of export credit finance at Nedbank. His career in trade credit insurance began when he joined Coface South Africa, where he spent 15 years. He went on to spend eight years at SACE, the Italian Export Credit Agency, and was responsible for running their representative offices in Africa and for a period in Asia. He was also a non-executive board director and finance and audit committee chairperson of the African Trade Insurance Agency (now African Trade & Investment Development Insurance), an African multilateral export credit agency and trade credit and political risk insurer.
MOSAIC
Mosaic Insurance has appointed Taylor Denier to lead growth of its US environmental liability business as the division expands globally to meet rising demand.
Denier joins the specialty insurer’s New York office as SVP, Head of US, Environmental Liability, reporting to Global Head Jim Finnamore and is responsible for leading operational and growth strategy for Mosaic’s American portfolio. The division also has environmental risk specialists in London and Toronto, with plans to build out the team further in coming months.
“We’re delighted to launch our local environmental underwriting capability in the US and to welcome Taylor to Mosaic,” said Finnamore. “It’s exciting to respond to growing client demand by bringing leading capacity and deep expertise to the US market. Taylor’s hire is just the beginning of an ambitious growth plan that demonstrates Mosaic’s commitment to our environmental liability division.”
CANOPIUS
Canopius Group, a leading global specialty (re)insurer, has announced the appointment of Robert Barnum as Underwriter – Professional Lines, Australia, & Asia-Pacific.
Based in Sydney, Rob brings over 10 years of Financial Lines experience to Canopius, most recently serving as the Head of Professional Lines & Cyber Asia-Pacific at Axis Capital in Singapore. Prior to this, he held similar roles at AXA XL and Lloyd’s Syndicate Catlin in Australia. Rob’s experience is marked by a proven track record of delivering tangible results and demonstrating effective leadership across the Asia-Pacific region.
In his role at Canopius, Barnum will further expand the company’s operation in the region by establishing a Professional Lines practice across APAC. His focus will be on Open Market Professional Indemnity and Coverholder business in Australia, working closely with the wider Casualty team.
CII
The Chartered Insurance Institute recently announced that Matthew Hill will be the Group’s new Chief Executive.
Mr Hill is currently chief executive of the Legal Services Board, a position he has held since August 2019. His background also includes spells with the General Dental Council and Gambling Commission, following more than twenty years in central government in a range of areas.
Dr Helen Phillips, Chair of the CII Group Board said: “We are delighted to have been able to appoint Matthew from a field of very strong candidates. Matthew brings a vast breadth of experience from a twenty-year career in the civil service and his current position as Chief Executive of the Legal Services Board. The CII Group Board is convinced that his leadership, combined with the energy of our members and the commitment, hard work and deep technical and sectoral expertise of our organisation’s staff, will enable the CII Group to achieve the goals and ambitions set out in our five-year Strategic Plan launched last year.
AURORA
Aurora, the digital commercial insurance business for micro, small and medium-sized businesses, has appointed experienced broker and underwriting expert Tom Willmore ahead of the launch of its flagship commercial combined offering this spring. In a newly created broker-facing role Tom will be responsible for expanding the business’s distribution network, and building strong broker partnerships as the business expands access to its online platform to the wider broking community.
With a background in broking and underwriting across some of the UK’s leading delegated authorities, Tom joins from the Kingsbridge Group where he was senior development underwriting and account executive. Previous experience also includes roles at both the PIB Group and Jelf amongst others.
The MGA, which offers an ever-expanding portfolio of market-leading insurance products underpinned by algorithmic underwriting already provides cover in real-time for over 700 trade types at SME level via its dynamic online platform.
ACUMINOR
Acuminor, a regulatory technology platform, has announced Stephen Ball as its new CEO. Martin Nordh, the company’s founder and CEO since 2018, will remain part of the executive team and focus on market engagement. Ball’s appointment is part of a strategy that includes growing the company’s commercial teams, expanding geographically, and developing its products to address additional anti-financial crime use cases.
He has a wealth of market experience and a track record of scaling high-growth companies, such as fellow RegTech, ComplyAdvantage. He also managed client relationships at Bain & Company Inc., where he saw the financial crime and regulatory challenges firms faced from the inside.
“Acuminor has shown tremendous growth over the last five years, and I’m excited to head up the team in this next stage. The industry is at a turning point in how it approaches financial crime risk, due to the increasing sophistication of illicit activities. At the same time, risk management teams are being asked to increase productivity and justify every penny. Acuminor’s platform can help them tackle both these problems”, said Ball.
QBE
Amanda Lupkin has been promoted to the role of Vice President and Head of QBE Re’s North America Health Practice. Amanda joined QBE in 2021 and has more than 15 years of experience in reinsurance with previous roles at DHR Management, PartnerRe, Heartland Fidelity and Munich Re.
Tim Barber, QBE Re North America General Manager said: “Amanda brings a wealth of knowledge to the role. She has played a pivotal part in the development of our Health franchise in North America and we look forward to further progress in 2024. Her appointment is another great example of the internal talent we have within QBE Re.”
Lupkin’s promotion is the fifth senior appointment made at QBE Re in 2024, reflecting both its growth and modernisation ambitions.
LIBERTY SPECIALTY
Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM), part of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, has announced the appointment of Ronald Bolaños to the role of Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO). He will report to both Matthew Moore, President of Underwriting, Global Risk Solutions (GRS) and Phil Hobbs, President and Managing Director, LSM.
Manuel Moreno becomes President, LSM, US and Latin America, while maintaining his existing role of CUO, LSM US and Latin America. In his new position, Moreno reports to both Bolaños and Hobbs. Bolaños and Moreno will remain based in Miami and the appointments are effective immediately. Bolaños will be responsible for driving high performance underwriting across all LSM products. His focus is on leveraging global expertise and resources to meet the complex risk needs of LSM’s clients and broking partners.
Moreno will lead the continued high-performance of LSM in the US and Latin America. He will be responsible for building on existing and developing new partnerships in the region.
GRiD
GRiD announces it has appointed a new chair: Colin Fitzgerald, as Paul White comes to the end of his three-year tenure in the role. Fitzgerald is the Distribution Director of Group Protection at Legal & General and his career in the employee benefits industry spans more than 40 years, including leadership roles at Unum and Bupa.
As chair of GRiD, Fitzgerald will focus on bringing more visibility to the contribution the group risk industry makes to employers, employees and their families, as well as highlighting the potential for growth. Employers are increasingly focused on workplace wellbeing, and provider propositions have been enhanced significantly over recent years to meet this need.
Fitzgerald’s focus will be on bringing members together to collaborate in educating clients on the key role Group Risk benefits play as part of an organisational wellbeing strategy. He will work with the industry to inform discussions with clients, build better awareness of value-added support, and provide employers with clear messages they can use with their employees to drive engagement.
ACSO
Experienced civil justice practitioner Amir Ali OBE has joined the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) as a senior advisor. Mr Ali, who is immediate past Chairman of Civil Court Users Association (CCUA) and CEO of Remote Court Users (RCU), joined the trade body at the beginning of January.
He will provide strategic and tactical advice to ACSO and its members as part of its push to get chronic ongoing problems in the civil justice system further up the public and political agenda.
He said: “ACSO is a progressive organisation that has shaken up the long standing status quo in civil justice. I am impressed with the consensual, practical approach to issues management taken by the ACSO team and I am keen to play an active role in support of its public policy agenda.”
HDI GLOBAL
HDI Global SE UK & Ireland (HDI) has appointed Kate Sutcliffe as Director of Property, UK & Ireland, effective 15 January 2024. Sutcliffe takes over from Jon Bartlett who retired at the end of last year. She will report to Antonia Osborne, Director of Underwriting, UK & Ireland.
With over 20 years’ experience of underwriting, Sutcliffe joins HDI from Sompo International where she was Head of UK Retail Property, London. She previously held roles at Swiss Re and AIG, and is a Subject Matter Expert on Commercial Property Underwriting on behalf of the CII.
In her new role, Sutcliffe will continue to drive HDI’s property business forward, with a focus on developing propositions that meet the diverse needs of the firm’s property clients. This includes UK and Ireland corporations with multinational operations that benefit from HDI’s leading International Programmes proposition. Sutcliffe’s appointment reinforces HDI’s ambitious performance goals and underlines the firm’s commitment to partnering with clients during times of transformation.
CYXCEL
Newly-launched digital transformation and cybersecurity consulting business, CyXcel, has bolstered its international team with the appointments of two well-known cyber defence specialists as it continues to go from strength to strength.
Hamish Singh (left) joins CyXcel as partner, having worked with some of the UK and Europe’s largest financial services organisations. He has also held senior executive roles within sales, business development, operations, and strategy and has developed expertise working across different industries including banking, insurance, fintech and asset management. At CyXcel, he will work with global businesses, helping them to harness technology confidently while mitigating cyber risks that threaten their capabilities, revenue, and growth.
Sasha Henry, (right) meanwhile, has been appointed to the role of senior managing consultant. She brings six years of experience as a cyber consultant with a focus on risk management, operational resilience, crisis management, IT security strategy and control environment assessments. She will augment CyXcel’s capability in guiding clients through complex challenges as well as providing strategic insights and actionable recommendations to help enhance their cybersecurity and digital resilience.
Hamish and Sasha join a team headed by a leading and deeply experienced team of experts in digital transformation, risk consulting, cyber security, as well as national and international law, which has already worked on some of the most high-profile digital projects and cyber incidents to happen in 2023.
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