People Moves: Marsh Promotes McKay as UK Advisory Leader; BHSI Launches Surety in Spain, Led by Barbero; IQUW Promotes MacDonald to Head of Property

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Marsh, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) and the re/insurer IQUW.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Marsh Promotes McKay as UK Advisory Leader

Marsh, the insurance brokerage business of Marsh McLennan, announced the appointment of Stephen McKay as UK Advisory Leader.

Subject to regulatory approval, McKay will be based in London and report to Chris Lay, CEO, Marsh McLennan UK, and Giampaolo Scarso, advisory leader, International, Marsh. He will also join Marsh’s UK Executive Committee.

In this role, McKay will lead Marsh’s UK strategic and operational risk consulting teams and support the advancement of Marsh’s analytics and claims solutions capabilities. He will work closely with clients in key areas including reducing the cost of risk, increasing resilience, and providing risk finance decision-making insights.

McKay is currently the property practice leader for Marsh Advisory in North America, a position he has held for over four years. With 30 years of experience advising on risk programmes across various industries, his expertise includes areas such as major hazard assessment, M&A due diligence and environmental controls.

“Our UK advisory business is a hub of deep industry expertise, advanced analytics, and specialist global knowledge,” commented Lay. “With increasing uncertainty around the challenges that lie ahead, whether they be geopolitical, technological or commercial, Stephen will play a crucial role in ensuring our UK clients remain optimistic about their growth opportunities.”

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BHSI Launches Surety in Spain, Names Barbero as Head of Surety

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) announced it has entered the surety market in Spain and appointed Jesús Barbero to lead the product line as head of Surety.

Barbero has had more than 20 years as a surety bond specialist. He joins BHSI from surety insurer Caser in Madrid.

“We are excited to lead BHSI’s entry into the European surety market,” said Constanza Gállegos, country manager, BHSI in Spain. “By bringing BHSI’s long-view commitment, credit rating and financial strength to the surety market in Spain, we are answering an expressed need of our customers and brokers.”

BHSI will build and provide different surety solutions for a variety of projects and risks in Spain.

Barbero is based in Madrid and can be reached at jesus.barbero@bhspecialty.com.

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IQUW Promotes MacDonald to Head of Property

IQUW, the London-based property and specialty re/insurer, announced the promotion of Robbie MacDonald to head of Property.

MacDonald was previously head of Property, Direct and Facultative (D&F), a role he has held since May 2023. He has been co-leader of IQUW Property alongside Tom Hennessey, head of Property, Delegated Authority (DA).

Hennessey will continue in his current role, reporting to MacDonald, who will now report to Steven Tebbutt, active underwriter at IQUW.

“I am thrilled to be promoted to head of Property,” said MacDonald. “Over the last year, Tom and I have invested in new technology that provides us with greater insight into our portfolio and created new, streamlined processes to provide timely submission updates which enhances our overall Property proposition.”

“I’m delighted for Robbie; with him spearheading the division, combined with the new DA and D&F underwriters we have welcomed this year, our proposition to brokers is stronger than ever,” Hennessey commented.

IQUWs insurance and reinsurance products are distributed through Lloyd’s Syndicate 1856 and provide insurance cover for aviation, cyber, cargo, crisis management, marine, political risk, energy, property, D&O, financial institutions, political violence and terror and war risks, plus reinsurance for both property treaty international and specific to the US and specialty reinsurance.

Topics New Markets Leadership Property