People Moves: 13-17 September 2021

Featuring: Lonmar Global Risks, LMA, Axa XL, Marsh, Ceta

Lonmar hired divisional director
GRP-owned Lonmar has appointed specialist financial lines broker Giles Smithson as divisional director, financial and specialty lines. Smithson joins from Besso and will report to executive director Karen Allen.

Commenting on his new role, he said: “My immediate task is to help our clients navigate their way through a challenging period for financial lines, which is experiencing a hardening market as a result of past losses and concerns about the impact of the pandemic.”

“Our focus includes not only assisting Lonmar and GRP clients with their management liability and financial lines requirements, but also looking for opportunities to grow our market presence in this sector.“

Allen added: “It’s great that someone of Giles’ calibre and experience has joined us at this important time. He will be instrumental in growing Lonmar’s UK and International Financial Lines offering, and helping us achieve our long term growth ambitions.”

LMA adds new board members
The Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) has announced it has appointed six board members which will support the market areas such as digital trading, underwriting leadership, strategy, corporate development, data analysis, and syndicate management. 

The appointments will see the LMA almost doubling its female board member to seven, bringing the organisation closer to its ambition of having at least 30% of its board members to be female and/or from an ethnic minority by the end of 2023.

The new board members are:

• Hugh Brennan, CEO, RenaissanceRe Syndicate Management
• Dominick Hoare, Group CUO, Munich Re Syndicate
• Kate Markham, CEO, London Market, Hiscox
• Chris Smelt, Executive Director, Managing Agency Partners
• Rachel Turk, Head of Corporate Development, Beazley
• Sarah Willmont,Joint Active Underwriter, Canopius

LMA chief executive Sheila Cameron commented: “With these appointments, the LMA is closing in on its diversity target, with more than a quarter of our board now made up of women. Today’s announcement marks a further important step toward achieving a diverse board, in support of broader efforts to attain greater diversity at a market level, and we remain determined to reach our target by the end of 2023.”

Axa XL makes internal promotion
Axa XL has promoted Andrew Innes to global practice leader, products & airports, aerospace. Innes will be responsible for developing Axa XL’s global portfolio of aerospace manufacturers, service providers, and airports, while also driving global governance, underwriting guidelines, and pricing standards across the business units. He’ll also join the division’s global aerospace leadership team.

Innes has more than 20 years of experience in working across the aviation and aerospace insurance industries, beginning his career with Brit Insurance in 1995. Most recently, he held the position of senior aviation underwriter at Axa XL.

Dzung Nguyen-Tu, global chief underwriting officer, aviation & space, commented: “The aviation and aerospace industries are constantly transforming, most recently driven by improvements in technology. As we begin to plan for post-pandemic growth, innovation will be more important than ever. And yet, where there is new opportunity, there are often new risks to consider.

“Investing in our people is vital if we’re to continue to build upon the high levels of knowledge and expertise that our clients have come to expect from us. That’s why I’m delighted that Andrew is taking on this new role. His experience across underwriting, risk analysis and client management will help us to further strengthen our offering to clients.”

Marsh adds to UK marine & cargo practice team
Marsh has appointed Sarah Dyer as head of logistics and Nick Adams as business development leader within Marsh specialty’s UK marine & cargo practice. Dyer will report to Louise Nevill, CEO, UK marine & cargo Practice, Adams will report to Mark Cracknell, head of protection & indemnity. They will both be based in London.

Dyer returns to Marsh from AIG, where she was UK head of marine. With over 30 years’ experience as a broker and underwriter, she previously worked for Marsh as a freight liability broker. Ms. Dyer also spent 10 years at Aon, as a client director. In her new role, she will support wholesale and retail logistics businesses globally in managing their insurance and risk portfolios.

Adams will focus on supporting Greek marine clients with their insurance and risk management programmes and will work closely with Nikos Rekantzis, head of marine, Marsh specialty, Greece. Prior to joining Marsh, he had spent more than 12 years with the Onassis Group as a director of Olympic Agencies (UK) in London. Prior to this, he worked as a claims manager in the Swedish P&I Club’s Greek Office.

Commenting on the appointments, Nevill said: “Shipping remains the backbone of world trade and underpins the global economy. Sarah and Nick are highly experienced and talented individuals who excel in advising organisations with complex marine insurance and freight logistics risks on their insurance requirements. Their expertise will be invaluable to our marine clients.”

Ceta adds head of marketing
Ceta Insurance has appointed James Robathan as head of marketing where he will develop a brand and marketing strategy to support the company’s long term growth plans.

He is described as a highly skilled marketer who has worked in the insurance industry for the past eight years’ where he has held senior roles at a number of well-known names including Axa, NFU Mutual and SunLife. Prior to that, he worked for a number of years in the travel industry with Virgin Holidays.

Robothan’s most recent role was Head of Digital Campaigns at Animal Friends Insurance, where he was responsible for leading all digital, above the line and campaign activity.