A specie promotion at Antares, a new property class at HIVE, a COO for Santam Syndicate 1918 and a new aviation team at HDI Global lead this week's senior moves.
Antares Global has promoted Amelia Hinds (pictured, left) to class underwriter, specie. She is based in London and reports to James Glynn, head of marine, who continues to support the specie portfolio.
Hinds has more than 13 years in insurance, almost entirely as a fine art and specie underwriter. She joined Antares in 2021 from roles at Chubb and Canopius.
The promotion follows Mat Storr's move to head of reinsurance in August, part of a run of internal promotions at Antares this year. For fine art and specie brokers, it keeps the class under an underwriter already known to the market.
HIVE Underwriters has appointed Richard Brown (pictured, centre) as head of property, to lead the launch of its global property direct and facultative business.
Brown joins from Sompo, where he was head of UK and international property. He previously held senior roles at Generali and Liberty Specialty Markets and has more than 30 years of UK and international property experience.
The new class adds to a run of expansion at the specialty MGA this year, including an aviation reinsurance division launched in May under Scott Bradbury and Joshua Down, alongside earlier moves into marine and political violence. HIVE was founded in November 2017 by Bruce Carman, following a 30-year Lloyd's underwriting career, and describes its approach as knowledge-led underwriting that combines third-party threat intelligence with exposure modelling.
Carman said Brown's property expertise and record of building successful teams make him well placed to develop the new class.
For property brokers, the launch means a new source of D&F capacity from a team led by an experienced Lloyd's and company market underwriter.
Santam Syndicate 1918 has appointed Hina Shavdia (pictured, right) as chief operating officer. She is based in London and reports to chief executive Sam Geddes.
Shavdia has more than 20 years of insurance and reinsurance transformation experience. She joins from Volante Global, where she was group COO, and previously spent four years at AXIS Capital as global head of business change.
The appointment continues a leadership build-out at the syndicate since Geddes joined from MS Amlin in June 2026, succeeding interim chief executive Rob Vetch, who moved into the CFO role. The syndicate has since added Nigel Tatlock as head of property, Gavin Coley as head of claims and Atang Matebesi as chief commercial officer, and has expanded into international motor and property lines this year.
HDI Global Belgium has launched a dedicated aviation underwriting team for the Benelux and Southern European markets. The team is led by Stijn Keppens and based in Brussels.
It operates within HDI's Aviation Centre of Excellence and will focus on private and business aviation, flying clubs, flight schools, helicopter operations, unmanned aerial vehicles, maintenance and repair providers, airfields and hangar-keepers. It will also cover emerging exposures linked to fleet modernisation, electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, and alternative propulsion.
Jamie Bowes, HDI Global's head of aviation, said the launch strengthens the insurer's specialist aviation capabilities across Europe, combining local market knowledge with HDI's global aviation platform.
For brokers placing general aviation risks in the Benelux and Southern Europe, the team provides locally based specialist capacity.
