Aon Benfield Names Foord-Kelcey as Co-Head of Cyber Practice Group

Aon plc has appointed Luke Foord-Kelcey to co-head Aon Benfield’s Global Cyber Practice Group, reinforcing the firm’s commitment to cyber risk management and transfer.

Based in London, Foord-Kelcey will be responsible for spearheading cyber – an emerging line of business that offers significant growth opportunities for insurers due to its global exposures.

He will drive the firm’s business strategy to enhance Aon Benfield’s cyber offering to insurers and reinsurers worldwide, alongside Co-Head Bill Henriques, who originally established the practice group. Henriques has worked in the cyber re/insurance field for the last 16 years since it was introduced to the treaty reinsurance market in the late 1990s.

Foord-Kelcey previously worked for insurance manager Tindall Riley where roles included launching and managing Athena, which provides cyber and data privacy insurance and incident response management for professional services providers. Prior to that, he worked as JLT Specialty’s head of the Communications, Technology & Media Practice, and qualified as a solicitor at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (now Clyde & Co).

“Cyber risk has become a leading issue for many organizations as awareness of cloud computing, social media, corporate Bring Your Own Device policies, big data, and state-sponsored espionage has grown and recently been amplified by President Obama’s Cybersecurity Executive Order,” said John Bruno, EVP of Enterprise Innovation & CIO.

“As a firm, we are working with both our retail and insurer clients to help protect their businesses and create relevant solutions for this emerging risk,” Bruno added.

“Luke’s appointment brings further impetus to the market’s drive to tackle cyber risk,” commented Eric Andersen, CEO of Aon Benfield. “This emerging class with unique characteristics requires Luke’s proven track record in this field to help our insurer clients to effectively protect their cyber business through specialist reinsurance programs.”

Mark Lynch, an expert in human risk modeling, is also joining the cyber practice group – moving internally from Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting team to utilize his knowledge of non-catastrophe risk analysis including terrorism, rioting and drug cartel violence.

Lynch has a masters’ degree in International Security Studies from the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence and previously worked at the Royal United Services Institute’s National Security and Resilience Department working with the Home Office on counter-terrorism strategy.

Source: Aon

Topics Cyber Reinsurance Aon