Several insurance and risk management firms have made senior leadership appointments, with roles spanning underwriting, affinity solutions, marine claims, strategic partnerships, and global development.
WTW has appointed Chris Varley (pictured above, left) as global proposition leader for commercial lines pricing and underwriting within its Insurance Consulting and Technology (ICT) business.
Varley will be based in London and lead strategy globally in this area, which WTW has identified as a strategic growth priority targeting sustained double-digit expansion.
Varley returns to WTW from Allianz Commercial UK, where he served as chief data and analytics officer from March 2022 before becoming chief underwriting officer.
He previously held the position of senior director for commercial lines pricing and underwriting at WTW for five years, where he specialised in developing analytics tools for the commercial insurance market.
Marsh Risk has named Roberto Pinto (pictured above, right) as international affinity leader, effective February 23. Pinto will be based in London and report to Flavio Piccolomini, CEO of Marsh International.
In the role, Pinto will oversee Marsh's affinity business across Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, India, the Middle East and North Africa, Pacific, and the UK. He will work with clients to identify growth opportunities and reduce risk across their affinity insurance portfolios.
Pinto has 20 years of experience in affinity and client loyalty solutions. He previously served as President of Digital Client Solutions and CoverWallet at Aon, where he led the firm's global digital portfolios, and held international affinity leadership roles at WTW.
McLarens has appointed Michael Wilson (pictured immediately above, left) as head of marine UK & Ireland and Richard Bradshaw (pictured immediately above, right) as latent defect lead. Both are newly created roles intended to support the firm's strategy to develop specialist propositions.
Wilson, a marine practitioner with more than two decades of experience, will lead the UK and Ireland marine practice. He will work alongside global head of marine John Culpitt to deliver services across marine hull and machinery, cargo, ports and terminals, P&I liability, and marine-related casualty claims.
His experience includes technical marine losses and senior leadership roles in the London Market.
HSB (UK & Ireland) has named Sunita Poll (pictured immediately above) as director of strategic partnerships. Poll will report to CEO Andrew Burke and lead the partnerships division to drive strategic growth.
Poll joins HSB with 25 years of experience at AXA, where she held senior roles across global sales, account management, client services, and strategy. She has worked at board level within multinational environments, building and growing complex global partnerships.
From 2011, Poll held global account director and business development positions at AXA Partners, leading partnerships with financial institutions including American Express, Mastercard, Co-op Insurance, Visa, and Monzo.
The Insurance Development Forum (IDF) has appointed Alexander De Croo, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, and Tsutomu Yamamoto, managing director of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, as public sector co-chairs of its Steering Committee.
De Croo assumed the UNDP Administrator role in December 2025 following a career that included serving as Prime Minister of Belgium from 2020 to 2024. He leads UNDP's work across more than 170 countries and territories.
Yamamoto became MIGA Managing Director in December 2025, bringing more than 30 years of experience in international banking and finance with Mizuho Bank. He most recently served as Senior Managing Executive Officer and Head of Global Transaction Banking, leading operations in the Americas, Asia, and Europe.
The two succeed Achim Steiner and Hiroshi Matano in their respective institutional roles and as Co-Chairs on the IDF Steering Committee.
