Senior appointments this week span regional broking leadership, Lloyd's market governance, captive management and specialist underwriting.
Aviva has appointed Amanda Thomson (pictured, left) as branch manager for Scotland and Northern Ireland, succeeding Maureen Edgar, who has retired after seven years leading the region. Thomson will be responsible for trading across the entire region, leading a team of more than 50 underwriters based across Aviva's Belfast and Glasgow offices, and will report to Patrick Flannery, head of trading for the North region.
Thomson joined Aviva in 2005 and has held roles across customer service, sales and distribution, most recently as broker development manager, a role she held for four years before this promotion. The appointment lands as Aviva continues investing in its regional trading model, most recently through the launch of Aviva Premier, a proposition giving brokers supporting larger, more complex mid-market clients access to dedicated support through the insurer's regional teams.
Thomson's four years as broker development manager, immediately preceding this promotion, means she moves into the top regional job already holding the relationships that matter most for day-to-day trading, rather than needing to rebuild them from scratch.
For Scottish and Northern Irish brokers, that continuity is arguably more valuable than the seniority itself, particularly as it coincides with the rollout of Aviva Premier, which routes larger, more complex mid-market business through exactly these regional teams.
The Lloyd's Market Association has appointed Christiern Dart (pictured, centre), chief executive of MS Amlin, to its board, while Clare Constable, chief claims officer at MS Amlin, has stepped down from the same board.
Dart took over as MS Amlin's chief executive in January 2026, succeeding Andrew Carrier, having previously spent 17 years at Brit, including five as group chief underwriting officer overseeing underwriting capacity of more than £2 billion. Constable had served on the LMA board since June 2024, when she joined alongside three other new appointees following her promotion to chief claims officer that year.
The LMA board shapes market-wide priorities on everything from claims modernisation to Lloyd's digital infrastructure, so a shift from a claims-focused voice to an underwriting CEO voice is a genuine change in perspective at the table, not just a reshuffle of names. Brokers placing complex or high-value risk at MS Amlin specifically may find Dart's board seat gives the syndicate slightly more direct influence over market-level trading and modernisation decisions than it had with Constable's claims-oriented representation, though the practical effect will depend on which issues actually come before the board over his term.
Markel Insurance has appointed Jonathan Handen (pictured, right) as head of trade credit and political risk for the Americas, within its international operations.
Handen joins from Atradius Trade Credit Insurance, where he was most recently vice president of credit specialties for the Americas, having previously served as group head of commercial underwriting at Allianz Trade.
Handen succeeds Arjan van de Wall, who is retiring and will work part-time until his departure in January 2027. Van de Wall has led Markel's Americas trade credit and political risk business since 2018, having earlier served as the unit's global development director following its original 2014 establishment under Amlot.
Brokers placing trade credit and political risk business across the US, Canada and Latin America gain a new senior underwriting contact with direct experience at two of the sector's largest specialist carriers, Atradius and Allianz Trade, which matters for brokers negotiating capacity or structuring on complex, multi-jurisdictional transactions.
Handen's own stated intention to work closely with Markel's regional leadership across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia is also relevant for brokers with multinational clients, since it suggests Markel is positioning this hire specifically to support cross-border placements rather than treating the Americas as a self-contained book.
Willis, a WTW business, has appointed Gerard Owens as head of captive and insurance management solutions for Ireland, effective November 1, 2026.
Owens succeeds Trevor Madden, who is moving to lead the same business line across Asia-Pacific, where he in turn succeeds Joyce Chua, who is leaving the company to pursue personal priorities. Owens has held senior positions at Willis since 2017 and has spent 17 years as a central part of the Dublin management team, while Madden has held senior Dublin leadership roles since 2003, bringing more than 35 years of industry experience to his new Singapore-based role.
For brokers advising clients on captive formation or management in Ireland, a 17-year internal veteran taking over from another long-serving Dublin leader means continuity of relationships and regulatory knowledge in a domicile where those factors matter enormously to how smoothly a captive programme runs. The wider three-way reshuffle also signals WTW is actively moving senior captive expertise toward Asia Pacific, which is worth noting for brokers with multinational clients weighing where to domicile new captive structures, since it suggests WTW sees growing captive demand in that region specifically.
Based in Madrid with an Iberia-wide remit, she will support large corporates and listed companies in Spain with risk management and insurance programmes, reporting to Ana de Gregorio, Gallagher's managing director in Spain overseeing specialties.
The hire continues Gallagher's build-out of its Spanish operation since Ana Matarranz was named chief executive for Spain in May 2026, launching Gallagher's direct retail broking presence in the country after an earlier plan to acquire PIB Group, then owned by Apax and Carlyle, fell through.
For competing brokers in the Spanish and Portuguese markets, a senior Aon financial lines specialist moving to Gallagher signals the new entrant is serious about competing for large corporate and listed-company financial lines business specifically, rather than a slower, more generalist build-out, which is worth factoring into how rival brokers position against Gallagher for the same client base going forward.
