Time once more for the latest senior appointments round-up;
LOCKTON
Lockton, the world’s largest independent insurance broker, has announced the appointment of Øyvind Larsen as CEO of Lockton Norway, effective April 1st 2025.
Øyvind, joined Lockton in December 2023 as Head of People Solutions Norway, bringing nearly three decades of experience in the insurance industry and a proven track record in strategic leadership whilst always developing and supporting unrivalled experience in his teams. Prior to joining Lockton, Øyvind spent over 25 years at Aon, holding various senior leadership roles, including Head of Health & Benefits Norway. His expertise spans employee benefits, strategic client management, and risk solutions.
WINN GROUP
Winn Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Wall as its new Head of Insurance Relationships. With four decades of experience in the insurance industry, Mike brings a wealth of expertise and a deep network of industry relationships that will be instrumental in supporting the company’s continued growth and strategic ambitions.
Mike has built an impressive career in the insurance sector, leading and growing businesses while forging strong partnerships across the industry. He played a pivotal role in building Fresh Insurance as its Managing Director before joining the senior leadership team at Markerstudy, where he further cemented his reputation as a trusted industry leader. In his new role, Mike will report to Winn CEO Chris Birkett, and will be responsible for strengthening existing business relationships while driving new opportunities, particularly in the Managing General Agent (MGA) space.
MGAA
The Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA), the UK’s only not-for-profit organisation representing Managing General Agents (MGAs) across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, is pleased to announce the appointment of Alison Cairns as its new Training and Development Manager.
Alison joins the MGAA from AXA UK, where she was Underwriting Competency Development Manager. With extensive experience in insurance training and development, technical capability, change consulting, and financial services coaching, Alison brings a wealth of expertise that will be instrumental in expanding and enhancing the MGAA’s training and development initiatives.
TOWERGATE
Towergate Employee Benefits announces the appointment of Charlie Goodman as Client Director at Towergate Employee Benefits.
Providing pension and financial wellbeing expertise to clients, Charlie will be supporting existing clients as well as helping to drive new business across the full range of employee benefit services. He joins a team of over 20 specialists reporting to Mark Pugh, head of consulting services.
Charlie qualified as a financial adviser looking after high net worth individuals with Barnes & Sherwood, before moving to focus on workplace pensions and employee benefits with Grant Thornton. Over the past 13 years he has worked for a number of leading employee benefits companies. In 2019 he launched his own employee benefits and financial wellbeing business Good Money Guidance, joining the Employee Benefits Collective in 2021 as an Equity Partner. He is a Director of the Institute for Financial Wellbeing, Secretary of the CIPD branch in Central London, and sits on the main committee of the NextGen Pensions diversity initiative.
BEAZLEY
Beazley, the leading specialty insurer, has announced the appointment of Lindsay Shipper as Head of Commercial Property, North America, effective 1st April 2025. Reporting to Richard Montminy, Group Head of Property Risks, Mrs Shipper will be based in Atlanta, GA.
Mrs Shipper brings expertise and extensive broker insight to Beazley, with close to two decades experience in the property market. She joins from Marsh, where in her 16-year career she held a number of senior positions, most recently Managing Director, Southeast Zone Property Leader.
AEGIS LONDON
AEGIS London has appointed Charity Bare to be Chief Risk and Compliance Officer to support its continued focus on maintaining its position as a top quartile Lloyd’s performer while retaining robust risk controls.
Charity will report to Alex Powell, CEO of AEGIS London, and be part of the Executive Leadership Team. She will be responsible for a team of 16 people across AEGIS London’s Risk and Compliance team – incorporating risk, exposure management and compliance & regulatory. Following a Masters degree in Risk Management, Charity held roles in Risk Management at Brit, Talbot and Nephila. Prior to joining AEGIS London, Charity was Group Risk Director at Canopius Group Limited, which was her third senior position in the London Market.
WESTFIELD SPECIALTY
Westfield Specialty International has promoted Jeremy Shallow to the role of Chief Underwriting Officer and Active Underwriter of Syndicate 1200 (subject to regulatory approval). Jeremy previously held the role of Deputy Chief Underwriting Officer and Head of Specialty at the organisation. In his new role Jeremy will report directly to Graham Evans, EVP, Head of International Insurance at Westfield Specialty International.
Jeremy has twenty years of experience in the City. Prior to joining Syndicate 1200, he was Deputy Head of Credit and Political Risk at Aspen and started his career in banking at WestLB.
DWF
DWF, the global provider of integrated legal and business services, has appointed Suzanne Liversidge as a Strategic Adviser to support its ambitious global growth strategy.
Suzanne will join as a partner in the leadership team, working in particular with Matthew Doughty and David Abbott, respectively CEO and senior partner of the firm’s Insurance Services division. She will help drive forward key global growth initiatives, support client relationship management, contribute to the successful integration of mergers and acquisitions, and mentor rising talent across the business’ global network.
COMPRE
Compre Group Holdings Limited (“Compre”), the Bermuda-domiciled international specialty reinsurance group, announces it has appointed John Howard, the former CEO of Truist Insurance Holdings (“TIH”), as its independent non-executive chairman, subject to regulatory approval.
Mr. Howard has more than three decades of diversified insurance and senior executive leadership experience at top financial services organizations with a proven track record of delivering superior results. Most recently he was Chief Executive Officer of TIH, serving in various leadership positions over the course of twenty years with the company and its affiliates.
IMS
IMS, the leading telematics and connected insurance solution provider, has appointed Sean Farrelly as Vice President, Sales, for the Americas.
Sean, who previously fulfilled senior roles at Arity and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, will report to SVP North America, David Lukens and joins IMS following a year of sustained international business growth, including signing up several new insurer accounts.
Lukens confirmed that Sean will oversee business development for strategic accounts in a North American market that has become the foundation for the global spread of UBI products for the mainstream.
HOWDEN
Davies, the leading specialist professional services and technology company serving insurance and highly regulated markets, today announced the promotion of Dhara Patel to CEO of Davies North America.
Dhara steps up to the role succeeding Davies’ senior executive, Matt Button, who was promoted to Group Deputy CEO earlier this year. In her new role, Dhara will lead Davies’ operations and sales teams across the U.S. and Canada, responsible for annual revenues of nearly $500m.
Davies’ North American operations include end-to-end claims administration, as well as actuarial and risk management services for insurers, brokers, MGAs, Lloyd’s Syndicates, Captives, Corporates and the Public Sector. Dhara will be responsible for client service and will be maintaining plans to expand capabilities and solutions within North America.
REDGRAVE
Redgrave, a leading executive search, interim, and leadership advisory firm supporting business owners, investors, and leaders, announces the launch of its Energy & Natural Resources practice. This expansion reinforces Redgrave’s commitment to delivering world-class executive search and leadership advisory solutions to organisations across the energy sector. Leading this initiative is Raj Rajesh, who joins as Head of Energy & Natural Resources.
Redgrave’s Energy & Natural Resources practice will focus on delivering high-impact leadership talent solutions, helping businesses successfully navigate energy transition, sustainability challenges, and operational transformation.
MARSH
Marsh, the world’s leading insurance broker and risk advisor and a business of Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC), has announced the appointment of Andrew George as President of Marsh Specialty, effective immediately. Mr. George will be based in London and report to Martin South, President and CEO, Marsh.
Marsh also announced that John Donnelly, President, Global Placement, will now report to Mr. South and will relocate from London to New York in the coming months. Both he and Mr. George will join the Marsh Executive Committee.
QBE
QBE is expanding its Warranty & Indemnity (W&I) presence to the region; the commercial insurer has recruited Samuel Pihl to the newly created local role of transactional liability underwriter at QBE Nordics.
After a period of uncertainty, the Swedish M&A market is showing signs of recovery. According to EY, 387 deals were completed in Sweden in the fourth quarter of 2024, a 9% increase from the previous year. And according to Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri, investment banks expect a continued increase in M&A activities in 2025, driven by further interest rate cuts, more IPOs and a high level of capital preparedness.
SWEDISH CLUB
The Swedish Club, a leading provider of marine insurance and risk management services, is pleased to announce the appointment of Emilia Dean as its new Legal Director, further strengthening its executive team. With a strong background in payment services and regulatory matters, Emilia will play a key role, assuming global responsibility for the Club’s legal matters, corporate governance, as well as serving as Corporate Secretary.
Emilia joins from Worldline, where she was Head of Legal (Nordics), overseeing commercial, corporate, and regulatory matters. She brings with her more than twenty years of experience in various legal roles with regulated international organisations such as Western Union and Trine and started her career at Bird & Bird LLP in London. A dual-qualified lawyer in both England and Sweden, she is fluent in multiple languages, including Swedish and English.
ARCH
Arch Insurance has announced the appointments of Carmen Cobeta as Head of Casualty, Spain and Irene Fernandez Franic as Senior Casualty Underwriter effective immediately.
Cobeta and Fernandez Franic join Arch Insurance (EU) dac (AIEU), which provides specialist property and casualty insurance solutions within the European Union. Based in Madrid, they are responsible for growing Arch’s casualty portfolio in Spain and Portugal, writing primary, umbrella and excess liability cover across a broad range of sectors including industrial, manufacturing and rail.
With over 20 years of casualty experience, Cobeta joins from QBE Europe where she was most recently Regional Broker Relationship Manager. Prior to this she was a Liability Portfolio Manager and a Senior Casualty Underwriter at QBE Europe and has also held underwriting roles at Chubb.
Fernandez Franic joins from Howden, where she was most recently Head of International Construction and has over 20 years of experience within the insurance market. She has also held broking and underwriting roles at Aon, Generali and QBE Europe.
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