People Moves: Howden Tiger Taps Carpenter’s Smith, Aon’s Walsh for Casualty; Aon Promotes Alcott to UK Chief Commercial Officer; Miller Hires Keeping as Head of P/C

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at the brokers Howden Tiger, Aon and Miller.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Howden Tiger Taps Carpenter’s Smith, Aon’s Walsh for Casualty Division

Howden Tiger, the reinsurance arm of international re/insurance broker, Howden Broking Group, has announced the appointment of Garrick Smith and Jim Walsh as senior brokers to its Casualty division. These appointments represent further investment in expertise as Howden Tiger adds talent to its specialist product lines for the benefit of reinsurance buyers.

In his new role, Smith will focus on the casualty and excess & surplus (E&S) casualty space, while Walsh will focus on casualty and professional lines. They will report to Josh Everdell. Smith will be based in North Carolina and Walsh in Stamford, Conn.

Smith joins from Guy Carpenter, where he has spent the past seven years, most recently holding the position of managing director, serving as U.S. sales leader of the firm’s E&S segment, as well as branch manager of the firm’s Elon, N.C. office. A veteran of the reinsurance industry, he has over 30 years’ experience. Prior to joining Guy Carpenter, Smith held positions at Willis Re and R/I Inc.

Walsh joins from Aon Reinsurance Solutions where he has been for the past 23 years, most recently holding the position of executive managing director. He has extensive experience in D&O, E&O, and transactional liability lines. Prior to joining Aon, he served as vice president at Cantor Fitzgerald.

The recent completion of the Howden Tiger transaction on Jan. 9 cements the firm’s position as a tier one global reinsurance broker, representing almost $400 million of combined reinsurance revenue, and serving as a strategic advisor for clients through its core specialisms of facultative, MGA, specialty, treaty, investment banking and analytics.

“I’m delighted to be joining Howden Tiger. The scale of opportunity is immense and will prove transformative for the market and for clients that have long been in need of an alternative reinsurance broker,” commented Smith, senior broker, Howden Tiger.

“The combination of specialist expertise, with an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset is what encouraged me to join Howden Tiger, and I have no doubt this proposition will prove incredibly compelling for clients across the reinsurance space,” said Walsh, senior broker, Howden Tiger.

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Aon Promotes Alcott to UK Chief Commercial Officer

Insurance broker Aon plc has named Matthew Alcott as UK chief commercial officer (CCO). In his new role, Alcott will join the UK leadership team, reporting to Julie Page, as well as the global CCO team, led by Michael Moran.

With a background in risk engineering, including time spent working with global insurers and brokers, Alcott has been with Aon for just over a decade. Alcott initially led sales and marketing for part of the UK Commercial Risk (CR) business, but in more recent years has had roles as regional managing director for the central region within CR, and since late 2021 worked as regional director for the south region across all of Aon’s propositions.

Alcott will be taking over the role from Jane Kielty, current head of Commercial Risk UK at Aon, and both will work closely together to ensure a smooth transition. In addition to his new CCO responsibilities, Alcott will also serve as Aon’s Large and Mid-Market segment leader – working alongside Michelle Mason in her capacity leading the Major Complex and Enterprise segment in the UK.

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Miller Hires Keeping as Head of P/C

Miller, the London-based independent specialist re/insurance broker, announced the appointment of Matthew Keeping as head of Property and Casualty. Keeping will report into Tim Norman, managing director, Miller UK.

Keeping brings over 20 years’ experience and extensive knowledge of P/C, specialty insurance and reinsurance. He joins from Foresight, where he was head of Distribution. Prior to this, he spent time at QBE North America as well as 14 years at Willis, where he held several roles in the UK and North America.

Keeping succeeds Mike Papworth who was recently appointed to the new dual role of managing director of Miller International and chairman of Property and Casualty, following the strategic re-alignment of the business into two divisions, Miller UK and Miller International, to support UK and international growth.

Topics Commercial Lines Property Casualty Aon Casualty