Howden outlines business overhaul

Howden outlines business overhaul | Insurance Business New Zealand

Insurance News

Howden outlines business overhaul

Group shares leadership revamp

Insurance News

By
Roxanne Libatique

Global insurance broker Howden Group Holdings (Howden) will unify its business structure under one global executive.

In a Press release, Howden confirmed that its insurance broking, reinsurance broking, and underwriting businesses will report directly to CEO David Howden, effective October 1, 2023. The holding company and broking operations will also rebrand under the Howden name and a single visual identity during the same month.

Insurance broking

Howden’s UK&I broking operations will be chaired by Barnaby Rugge-Price, current deputy chair of Howden Broking Group. He will work closely with deputy chairs Paul Redgate (current CEO of global specialty) and Mark Wood (current head of global practices).

Other changes include the following:

UK Specialty CEO Sarah Hughes will lead Howden Specialty, bringing together the current UK specialty, global specialty, and Howden CAP businesses;
Carl Shuker will lead the UK&I retail broking operations;
Andy Bragoli, executive chair of global specialty, will become the global head of placement; and
Luigi Sturani will continue to lead the broking operations in Europe, supported by Salvador Marin as CEO Northern Europe and Danny Sever as chairman.

Howden’s operations in Turkey will become part of its Europe region. Asia-Pacific will be chaired by Mark Wood, with Goh Chye Huat and Matt Bacon leading Asia and Pacific, respectively.

India, Middle East & Africa, and LatAm will be led by Sonia Caamaño (current CEO of international growth markets) and chaired by Paul Redgate, with Richard Mockett as CEO MEA and Pablo Bores as CEO LatAm.

Reinsurance broking

Rob Bredahl will lead Howden Tiger as CEO, supported by Rod Fox as executive chairman, Tim Ronda as president, and Elliot Richardson as vice chair

CEO Richard Clapham and executive chairman Kieran Sweeney will continue to lead DUAL.

Other changes include the following:

Olaf Jonda, Damien Coates, and John Johnson will continue to lead Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the US, respectively; and
Howden Broking Group CEO José Manuel González will retire from executive positions and remain with the group as a special adviser, CEO Office, and become the chair of Howden Iberia, which he founded.

González took over as CEO of the broking group in 2018. Under his leadership, the business has grown from £500 million to £2 billion in revenue in five years by attracting and aligning a formidable team.

Commenting on the changes, David Howden said: “As I said last year when we announced that we had reached agreement to acquire TigerRisk Partners, we have completed the architecture of the group. As we begin the next phase of our growth, it is critical that we have the right structure in place so that we are aligned as one to harness our collective power, protect our culture, and ensure we face our clients and markets as one business. We will do this with our retail, specialty, reinsurance, and underwriting leaders working together as a single management team.

“Our operating model and infrastructure are key to our sustainable growth, and we will continue to invest significantly in our support services functions to allow our experts to get on with what they do best – serving our clients.”