Job Moves and Senior Appointments 29.06.2026

Teneo, the global CEO advisory firm, today announced the appointment of Barry Gale as a Senior Managing Director in the firm’s Financial Advisory business. Based in London, Barry will focus on restructuring and transactions in the insurance sector. 

Prior to joining Teneo, Barry was Global Head of Aon Reinsurance’s Legacy practice, a role he held since 2021, specialising in M&A and reinsurance deals in the insurance legacy/run-off sector. Before Aon, Barry was a Partner and Head of KPMG’s Insurance Restructuring practice, where he specialised in advisory, restructuring and insolvency work in the insurance sector for more than 20 years.

QBE

QBE today announced two key hires – Patrick Karlowski as Chief Operating Officer (COO), Asia, effective 29 June 2026, and Florence Chan as Head of Data, Analytics and AI, Asia, effective 13 July 2026. Both roles are based in Hong Kong.

Succeeding Klaas Dijkstra, who has assumed the role of Chief Information Officer, International, Patrick will report to Nathan Fuller, Chief Operations Officer, International, with a dotted line to Rob Kosova, Chief Executive Officer, QBE Asia; while Florence will report to Shrenik Dagli, Group Head of Data, Analytics and AI, with a dotted line to Patrick.

Patrick will lead QBE Asia’s strategy, operations, and business transformation agenda – with a focus on driving growth, customer value, and operational excellence. He will oversee cross-divisional alignment and drive collaboration and innovation to unlock new service opportunities; whereas Florence will lead QBE Asia’s Data and Analytics team and work closely with colleagues to define and deliver the organisation’s Data and AI roadmap in the region – driving responsible AI adoption and creating measurable business value through insight-enabled decision making.

GALLAGHER

Gallagher, the global insurance broking and risk management company, has announced the appointment of Gabriella Eriksen Wingren into its global multidisciplinary Private Equity and M&A practice (PEMA) as Head of Transaction Solutions, Nordics to further expand the practice’s European presence. Gabriella will join Gallagher on 22 July 2026.

Gabriella’s appointment highlights the continued focus by the PEMA practice on building out deep-seated client-focused expertise across the M&A solutions and wider capital advisory space, expanding its geographic footprint to stay close to client communities and adding regional leadership. It follows the announcement earlier this month of a new PEMA team in Italy, including Federica Marcabruni in a similar regional leadership role, as Head of Transaction Solutions, Italy.

XPT SPECIALTY

XPT Specialty, a leading wholesale broker for commercial and personal insurance, has announced that Addie Lopez has joined the firm as Vice President, Commercial Underwriter/Broker in its Woodland Hills, California office. Lopez brings 25 years of insurance experience to the role, with more than 20 of those years on the wholesale side of the market, working with retail agents to place complex commercial risks in the E&S marketplace.

At XPT Specialty, Lopez will partner directly with retail agents on hard-to-place and non-standard commercial accounts, with particular depth in contractors and habitational risks. Her experience spans both brokerage and binding, giving her a broad set of tools for navigating complex submissions across specialty markets.

MARSH

­ Marsh (NYSE: MRSH), a global leader in risk, reinsurance and capital, people and investments, and management consulting, has announced the appointment of Tracie Thompson as Global Head of Portfolio Solutions, Marsh Risk, effective immediately. Based in New York, Ms. Thompson reports to John Donnelly, President, Global Placement, Marsh Risk.

In this role, Ms. Thompson leads the continued development of Marsh’s regional and global proprietary portfolio solutions, ensuring they are scalable, market-ready, and fully address client requirements.

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AVIVA

Aviva has announced two senior appointments to its Commercial Lines Chief Underwriting Office (CUO) leadership team, reinforcing its focus on data, analytics and technical insight.

Shyam Bhayani has been appointed as Director of Pricing, Insights and Exposure Management, effective immediately, succeeding Alex McMurrough in the role following her recent promotion to Chief Underwriting Officer, Commercial Lines. He has been with Aviva for eight years, most recently leading the Global Corporate & Specialty (GCS) Pricing team, where he has delivered a number of transformation programmes and developed deep expertise in the Group’s data infrastructure.

David Thomas will join Aviva General Insurance (GI) on 1 August as Interim Commercial Lines Data & Analytics Performance Director. He joins from Aviva’s Insurance, Wealth and Retirement (IWR) business where he is currently Head of Data Science and Product Management, bringing experience in leading large teams and driving performance across data science, AI and data management.

SANTAM SYNDICATES

Santam Syndicate 1918 (“the Syndicate”), part of Santam Group, Africa’s largest non-life insurer, announces the appointment of Gavin Coley as head of claims. Reporting to Rob Vetch, CFO of Syndicate 1918, he is based in London.

Coley joins the Syndicate with more than 30 years of experience across the insurance and reinsurance market, having held a number of senior claims leadership positions at leading carriers and Lloyd’s market businesses. Most recently he served as Head of First party claims at Everest, where he was responsible for the effective management of such claims, providing technical leadership and overseeing strategic initiatives, portfolio management and major loss reporting. Prior to this, he held senior claims roles at Liberty Specialty Markets, Neon and MS Amlin overseeing a variety of diverse portfolios.

AXA XL

AXA XL has appointed Samantha Wotton as Head of Coverholder Development, UK. She will be based in London and report to Elie Hanna, Chief Distribution Officer, UK & Lloyd’s at AXA XL.

In this role, Ms. Wotton will be responsible for developing, executing and leading AXA XL’s UK coverholder commercial strategy and engagement model. She will play a key role in strengthening and expanding AXA XL’s coverholder relationships, working closely with Underwriting teams to help profitably grow the portfolio and to maximise opportunities.

Commenting on her appointment, Elie Hanna, Chief Distribution Officer, UK & Lloyd’s at AXA XL said: “Delegated authority premiums at Lloyd’s alone, grew from £10.4bn in 2018 to £22.1bn in 2023 increasing its share of the Lloyds market from 30% to over 40%. This is expected to exceed 45% of market premium by 2027 according to analysis from Oxbow Partners. The coverholder market plays a vital role in the UK insurance ecosystem and is an important part of our UK & Lloyd’s business.

REPAIRIFY

Sapiens International is announcing the appointment of Krish Datta, EVP APAC as part of the company’s on-going commitment to the Asia Pacific region.

Krish will lead the company’s go-to-market strategy, customer growth, and regional operations and brings more than 35 years of enterprise software and platform leadership. He built SAP’s South-East Asian business to over $500 million in revenue, scaled Syniti’s APJ operation from inception to over 30 million annually and launched Credence.tech to achieve a significant cloud and sovereign platform within 18 months. Krish spent his early career delivering core insurance platforms across life, general, and reinsurance at Apex Systems.