People Moves: Howden Re Expands Cyber Reinsurance Team With 5 New Hires; Zurich Promotes McBride to Newly Created Role as Head of International Construction

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Howden Re and Zurich Insurance Group.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Howden Re Expands Cyber Reinsurance Team With 5 New Hires

Howden Re, the global reinsurance, capital markets and strategic advisory arm of insurance broker Howden, announced five new appointments to its cyber reinsurance team.

The expansion reflects sustained growth in global client demand for Howden Re’s cyber capabilities, establishing a dedicated US cyber reinsurance resource to service a growing US client base.

Michael Giuliano joins as director on the cyber reinsurance team. Based in New York, he will work alongside the cyber and US casualty teams, tasked with building out Howden Re’s cyber offering in one of the world’s most dynamic cyber insurance markets.

Giuliano joins from McGill and Partners, where he was a partner focused on cyber insurance and reinsurance portfolio solutions for complex clients.

Ram Ramakrishnan joins as director to lead the cyber actuarial function, further strengthening the team’s actuarial capability and supporting its leading modelling and threat intelligence functions.

He joins from Lockton Re, where he served as a senior actuary leading the analytics for the cyber reinsurance practice, and supporting casualty and aviation.

They are joined by three further appointments:

• Lewis Birch joins as associate director on the broking side of the team from Aon, and will work closely with clients and markets on the delivery of reinsurance solutions;
• Georgia Surridge joins as associate director leading the account management function within the cyber team, having previously been a senior account manager within the Japan team at Aon; and,
• Haakon Pedersen joins the analytics team as associate from Chaucer, where he was a senior analyst in exposure management covering both direct and reinsurance business.

“These appointments are a direct response to the demand we are seeing from clients,” said Luke Foord-Kelcey, managing director, global head of Cyber, Howden Re.

“Our business is growing quickly, and clients are looking for specialist cyber reinsurance expertise that combines deep market knowledge with strong analytics,” Foord-Kelcey added. “Bringing Michael, Ram, Lewis, Georgia and Haakon into the team allows us to deepen that offering and service a rapidly expanding client base on both sides of the Atlantic.”

***

Zurich Promotes McBride to Newly Created Role as Head of International Construction

Zurich Insurance Group has appointed Patrick McBride as head of International Construction, effective immediately. For this newly created role in Zurich’s Global Specialty Construction & Surety team, he will relocate to London and report to Kelly Kinzer, global head of Construction & Surety.

Since 2021, McBride has led the Construction Property team in the U.S., delivering for Zurich’s construction industry customers and driving innovation such as Data Center Project Guard, the first offering of its kind that can close coverage gaps, simplify complexity and enhance risk management for data center construction.

Prior to rejoining Zurich in 2018, he served as Willis Towers Watson’s Middle Market Broking Leader for the Mid-Atlantic Region, leading and overseeing all lines and industries in the middle market space.

In his first tour at Zurich from 2010-2016, McBride served in various underwriting roles of increasing responsibility within the Construction Property team, having initially started his career with Zurich U.S. in the Underwriting Training Program (UTP).

He is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree of Business Administration in Finance.

Topics Cyber Reinsurance Construction