Five appointments across the reinsurance broking and underwriting markets arrive as Monte Carlo week opens and the 2027 renewal cycle takes shape. The moves span global broking leadership at Marsh Re, a three-person property underwriting build-out at Conduit Re, and programme distribution in Europe's fast-growing managing general agent market.
Marsh Re has appointed Laurent Rousseau (pictured, first from left) as head of international, effective immediately. Based in London, Rousseau now leads Asia, Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean alongside his existing Europe and IMEA responsibilities. He continues to oversee Marsh Re's capital and advisory units globally. He will continue to report to Marsh Re president and CEO Dean Klisura.
Rousseau joined what was then Guy Carpenter in 2023 after 13 years at SCOR, where he served as chief executive. Before SCOR, he held roles at Credit Suisse First Boston and JP Morgan's mergers and acquisitions financial institutions group in London. He brings more than 25 years of investment banking and reinsurance experience.
The promotion follows Marsh Re's rebrand from Guy Carpenter in September. It also arrives as Rousseau outlined the broker's Monte Carlo position: a buyer's market in property, with cedants warned against pursuing price reductions at the expense of programme discipline. His expanded remit gives him oversight of the regions where that tension will be most actively negotiated heading into 2027.
Klisura said Rousseau's global perspective and reinsurance expertise would strengthen how the firm delivers its capabilities to clients internationally.
Conduit Re has made three property underwriting appointments, all joining from PartnerRe. Aaron Coates (pictured, second from left) becomes head of property, Mark Mitchell (pictured, second from right) head of US property, and Dacotah Baksh (pictured, first from right) joins as property underwriter.
Coates brings more than 25 years of experience across Bermuda, London, and the insurance-linked securities market, most recently as SVP and senior underwriter for global catastrophe at PartnerRe. Mitchell served as SVP and lead underwriter for North America catastrophe, focusing on the North American property market in Bermuda for more than 15 years. Baksh brings eight years of experience from PartnerRe's global catastrophe portfolio.
The three hires arrive as Conduit Re shifts its property book toward excess of loss structures. Property recorded a -10% risk-adjusted rate change in H1 2026. Conduit expects excess of loss to account for approximately 40% of property gross premiums written in 2026. Underwriters with deep catastrophe and retrocession backgrounds are well placed to manage that transition.
Howden Re has named Eloise Hurley Wellington as head of Howden Re Programmes Europe, the division previously known as Bowood Europe. Hurley Wellington has been with Howden Re since 2023, where she developed its European MGA and programmes business and expanded carrier relationships.
The appointment is timed against a European MGA market growing at roughly twice the pace of the US. Howden Re's Filtered for Quality report, published in 2025, put European MGA gross written premium at more than US$23 billion, up approximately 15% year-on-year. The five-year CAGR stood at around 23%. Hurley Wellington's background spans delegated authority and specialty insurance, with experience advising MGAs, carriers and entrepreneurial underwriting businesses across Europe.
The rebrand from Bowood Europe to Howden Re Programmes Europe, announced alongside the appointment, more closely integrates the division into Howden's broking structure. For carriers and MGAs working with the business, the change brings access to Howden Re's reinsurance, analytics and capital markets capabilities alongside the programmes function.
