Senior appointments this week span London Market data governance, algorithmic underwriting risk management, and specialist construction underwriting.
The London Market Group has appointed Joe Brace (pictured, left), operations director at the Lloyd's Market Association, as the new chair of its Data Council, succeeding Sheila Cameron, chief executive of the LMA, who has chaired the council since its inception in 2021.
Brace joined the LMA as operations director in April 2025, tasked with driving Blueprint Two implementation and promoting ACORD data standards across the placement and processing lifecycle.
Chris Lay, chair of the LMG, said the Data Council has delivered significant digital change since its founding, including increased adoption of data standards through the Core Data Record and Market Reform Contract v3, calling its work pivotal to the London market's digital progress.
Brace said alignment on shared data standards, and embedding them into usable market-facing tools such as the CDR and MRC, is vital to the market functioning as a digitally traded business, and that he looks forward to building on the work done by the Data Council and by Cameron.
The CDR and MRC v3 standards this council oversees directly shape how much manual re-keying and duplication brokers face when placing business across the London Market's various systems, so leadership continuity here has real operational stakes.
Brace's specific mandate at the LMA already covers testing and market readiness for Blueprint Two, meaning brokers should expect the Data Council's priorities under his chairmanship to stay closely aligned with the practical rollout timeline of these standards, rather than a shift in direction.
For broker operations teams still managing the transition to standardised data submission, that continuity is likely more valuable than any change in emphasis a new chair might otherwise bring.
Markel Insurance has appointed Greg O'Neill (pictured, right) as head of construction underwriting for the UK, tasked with leading and developing its construction proposition in the market.
O'Neill joins from Pen Underwriting, where he spent around a decade leading the construction business, having been one of the founding members who built the firm's regional construction book from scratch in 2014. He brings more than 20 years of UK construction underwriting experience across both insurer and MGA environments.
Markel's UK construction proposition launched in 2023 with a broad risk appetite, giving customers access to in-house legal, tax and HR specialists alongside value-added services aimed at helping SME construction businesses manage operational risk. Brokers can access the product through Acturis and Markel's own extranet for lower-complexity risks, with Markel's specialist underwriting team available for cases needing greater expert input.
O'Neill said Markel's reputation, specialist construction expertise and focus on outcomes for brokers and clients make it a compelling proposition, and that he looks forward to building on its strong foundations to deepen its market presence.
O'Neill's entire career has been spent on the underwriting side of exactly the relationships brokers rely on to place construction risk. His MGA background specifically matters here, since it gives him direct, practical understanding of how brokers actually work with delegated authority arrangements, distinct from an insurer-only career path.
For brokers already placing business through Markel's Acturis or extranet channels, the leadership change is unlikely to disrupt lower-complexity quote-and-bind cases, but those with more complex construction risks needing direct underwriter engagement should expect O'Neill's own risk appetite and technical priorities to shape how those cases are assessed going forward.
Ki, the algorithmic Lloyd's digital follow platform, has appointed Adam O'Reilly as chief risk officer.
O'Reilly joins from AEGIS London, where he spent nearly two decades since joining in 2006, most recently as chief actuary overseeing pricing, reserving, capital and the firm's data science and analytics team, alongside a seat on AEGIS London's executive committee.
At Ki, he will lead the actuarial, compliance, legal and risk teams, reporting to chief executive Mark Allan.
Mark Allan said O'Reilly's depth of technical knowledge and extensive Lloyd's market experience across all major lines make him a valuable addition as Ki continues to grow and accelerate its algorithmic underwriting capabilities, positioning him to lead the platform's risk and regulatory functions into its next phase of growth.
A strengthened risk and actuarial function at Ki matters to brokers directly, since confidence in how an algorithmic underwriting platform prices, reserves and manages capital underpins how comfortable brokers feel routing follow business through it rather than a traditional lead-and-follow panel.
O'Reilly's specific background overseeing both actuarial and data science functions at AEGIS London is relevant here, since it suggests Ki is prioritising the kind of technical scrutiny that gives brokers and their clients assurance the algorithm's pricing discipline holds up as the platform scales, particularly as more carriers add capacity to it.
