People Moves: Liberty Specialty Markets Promotes Nelson to CUO, UK & MENA, Succeeding O’Neill; Pen’s Trafalgar Marine Trades Taps Geo’s Colbourn as Senior UK U/W

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Liberty Specialty Markets, the MGA Pen Underwriting, and Lloyd’s syndicate, AEGIS London.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Liberty Specialty Markets Promotes Nelson to CUO, UK & MENA Regions, Succeeding O’Neill

Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM), part of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, announced the appointment of Henry Nelson as chief underwriting officer (CUO) for the UK & MENA region, effective Jan. 1, 2025.

Nelson will begin transitioning into his new role over the coming weeks, working alongside current CUO Mel O’Neill, who is set to retire at the end of this year.

Reporting directly to Luis Prato, president of UK & MENA, and Ronald Bolaños, CUO for LSM, Nelson will oversee underwriting strategies in the region, with a focus on delivering profitable growth, fostering a high-performance culture, and ensuring the region’s operations are well-positioned to meet future industry challenges.

Nelson has been with Liberty for over 11 years and has significant cross-functional experience, holding several key roles across the business. Since 2022, Nelson has served as chief of staff. Prior to this, he was head of Portfolio Management for London and Global Products. His experience spans various classes of business, including Marine and War & Terrorism. Nelson joined Liberty from Aon’s Crisis Management team in 2016.

“Henry’s in-depth understanding of our business strategy, combined with his cross-functional experience and strong relationships across the business will be essential as we continue to grow and future-proof our operations in the UK & MENA region,” commented Luis Prato, president of UK & MENA. “His perspectives will strengthen our ability to deliver value for our clients, brokers and our Liberty teams.”

Prato went on to thank O’Neill “for her 21 years of exceptional service at Liberty” and leadership, which has laid the “robust foundations upon which Henry will build, ensuring we maintain our focus on delivering exceptional service in the UK & MENA region.”

Liberty Specialty Markets offers specialty and commercial insurance and reinsurance products across key UK, European, Middle East, US, Bermuda, Asia Pacific & Latin America markets.

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Pen’s Trafalgar Marine Trades Taps Geo’s Colbourn as Senior UK Underwriter

Pen Underwriting’s marine business specialist, Trafalgar Marine Trades (TMT), is continuing its investment in broker service capabilities with the appointment of Emma Colbourn. Colbourn will join as UK senior marine trades underwriter on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Bringing more than 25 years’ marine insurance experience and specialist knowledge, Colbourn joins from Geo Underwriting Services where she has been marine trade underwriting manager for the past four years. Prior to this, she carried out a similar role at KGM Underwriting Services. Colbourn will focus on the UK marine trades market, as part of a highly experienced underwriting team that looks after the risk and insurance requirements of marine businesses around the world.

Working closely with Pen’s dedicated business development team and broker clients, Colbourn will build out the book by providing flexible and bespoke solutions that meet the needs of marine trades be they boat builders, repairers, suppliers, equipment manufacturers, clubs or marinas. Her remit will also cover ongoing product development and systems development to further enhance the speed and efficiency of the customer journey.

“When it comes to detailed knowledge of the diverse risks and specialist insurance needs of UK marine businesses, Emma is one of the most skilled and experienced underwriters that brokers could turn to,” commented Paul Hartley, co-managing director of Marine at Pen.

“From boat builders to repair yards, marinas to sailing clubs, and marine equipment manufacturers to chandlers, she really understands the breadth of property and liability exposures that these businesses face and the risks they need to mitigate and manage,” Hartley added.

“Having Emma join the leadership team at TMT to focus on the significant growth potential in the UK market will also enable fellow senior underwriters James King and Stephen Loader to dedicate their expertise to growing our marine trades business across Europe and the rest of world respectively,” he added.

Under a single policy, with a single renewal date, Trafalgar Marine Trades – a trading name of Pen Underwriting Ltd. – can provide a wide range of cover to indemnify the activities being undertaken including material damage, property away from premises, goods in transit, exhibitions, marine equipment, builders risk, business interruption, money, employers’ liability, public, products liability and contractors all risk.

London-based Pen Underwriting is a multi-class, multi-territory managing general agent (MGA) that operates as a virtual insurer, meaning it can fulfil all the typical functions of an insurance company — from underwriting, sales & distribution, pricing & analytics, product innovation, risk & governance through to claims handling — other than the provision of insurance capital.

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