Aon has expanded the remit of Denise Perlman (pictured), naming her executive managing director and middle market segment leader for reinsurance. The move adds a dedicated reinsurance growth mandate to a role she was already playing at the center of Aon's most consequential deal in years.
Perlman simultaneously serves as Aon's representative on the integration management office (IMO) leadership team overseeing the proposed acquisition of USI Insurance Services. That deal, announced August 31, would see Aon acquire USI from private equity firm KKR for US$17 billion in cash. USI is the 10th-largest US insurance broker, with approximately US$3 billion in annual revenue and more than 10,500 employees across nearly 200 offices. The transaction is pending regulatory approval and expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.
In her expanded role, Perlman will focus on helping middle market insurers pursue growth, sharpen their distribution strategies, and find room for differentiation in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
The appointment reflects how deliberately Aon is positioning itself around the middle market. The USI deal follows Aon's US$13.4 billion acquisition of NFP in 2024, giving the firm two consecutive large-scale moves into a segment it describes as exceeding $40 billion and accounting for more than one-third of US commercial property and casualty direct written premium. USI CEO Mike Sicard is set to become president of Aon and global CEO of middle market once the deal closes.
Aon is not alone in targeting this segment. Zurich North America added more than 100 underwriting roles in 2025 as part of a middle market expansion. The segment remains highly fragmented, with no single carrier holding more than 5% share, according to Conning's 2025 Middle Market Study.
That fragmentation is what makes the distribution question urgent. Mid-sized insurers generally lack the scale to build deep risk management infrastructure on their own. Reinsurance support, distribution relationships, and program development all tend to come through intermediaries. Perlman's role sits at that intersection.
Before joining Aon in 2025, Perlman served as president of national business insurance at Marsh McLennan Agency, where she led growth, specialized industry practices, and product development for small and mid-sized clients. She began her career at Markel Corporation in 2002.
Steve Hofmann, CEO of Americas, reinsurance at Aon, said Perlman brings "a unique combination of leadership, market insight and industry relationships" to the role. Perlman described the expanded position as an opportunity to work more closely with insurers and insureds across the middle market, drawing on capabilities from across the firm.
The combined weight of the NFP acquisition, the pending USI deal, and now a dedicated reinsurance leadership structure aimed at mid-sized insurers outlines where Aon is concentrating its growth effort.
