Senior appointments span specialty underwriting leadership, surety, client distribution, AI operations, and two separate entries into US healthcare insurance.
HDI Global US has appointed Maria Duhart (pictured, left) as chief underwriting officer, US Specialty, and promoted Dan Feige (pictured, center) to chief underwriting officer, US Short-tail Lines. Both report to chief executive Shadi Albert and serve on the US executive leadership team.
Duhart joins from AXA XL, where she most recently led the US East Zone client and distribution team, having previously served as chief underwriting officer for AXA XL’s Americas specialty niche business. She also held senior roles at Nationwide and Chubb. At HDI Global US, she will lead underwriting across architects and engineers, credit and political risk, equine and delegated authority, and will also direct the company’s surety business, currently in development.
Feige was appointed head of engineering, construction and inland marine at HDI Global US in June 2026. His promotion adds formal CUO accountability across property, energy and ocean marine, lines that sit at the core of what HDI Global US needs to build credibility with brokers placing larger commercial and specialty risks. Before joining HDI, he was chief underwriting officer, marine, major accounts at Liberty Mutual.
The two appointments are the latest in a succession of leadership hires at HDI Global US since Shadi Albert took over as CEO in July 2026 under the company’s four-year Xcelerate29 growth strategy.
AXA XL has appointed Tim Brewer as head of commercial bonds, Americas, and expanded the role of Rana Gillmon to include leadership of client and distribution activities across the East Zone of the US.
Brewer reports to Sylvain Bouteillé, chief underwriting officer, specialty, Americas, and brings more than 20 years of commercial surety experience, most recently as national field director, commercial surety, at Skyward Specialty Insurance. He also holds the Associate in Fidelity and Surety Bonding (AFSB) designation.
Gillmon joined AXA XL in 2022 from Chubb’s North America major accounts division, having previously spent 16 years at Marsh, including in the firm’s private equity mergers and acquisitions group and leading incoming multinational business in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. Her expanded remit adds the East Zone to her existing responsibility for private equity client relations across the Americas, meaning the same senior contact overseeing PE client relationships now also coordinates client and distribution activity for the broader East Zone.
Alliant Underwriting Solutions (AUS), the program administrator division of Alliant Insurance Services, has appointed Shaun Shenouda as divisional chief operating officer and AI transformation officer. In the combined role, he will lead AUS’s work on artificial intelligence and automation, including resource allocation and initiative prioritization, alongside broader accountability for operating leverage and enterprise execution across the division. Shenouda will continue serving as president of AUS company SES Risk Solutions, which provides property and casualty cover for portfolios of single-family residential rental properties.
The dual title of COO and AI transformation officer is relatively uncommon in the program administrator space and reflects where Alliant sees the work as concentrated. The structure suggests AI-driven changes to submission processing will be led from operational leadership rather than a standalone technology function.
MNK International, the London-based specialist Lloyd’s broker and part of MNK Group, has appointed Iain Jeens (pictured, right) as director and head of US healthcare, to lead a new US healthcare division within its North American operation. Jeens brings more than 20 years of London market experience focused on North American healthcare, including senior roles at Amwins Global Risks and Oxford Insurance, spanning hospitals, long-term care, and miscellaneous health risks.
Jeens will be based in London but focused on placing US healthcare risks into Lloyd’s and Bermuda markets. For US healthcare brokers with clients needing London or Bermuda capacity, particularly in harder classes such as hospitals, social services and long-term care, MNK International’s new division offers a dedicated Lloyd’s specialist rather than a generalist broker route.
Altea, the healthcare-focused insurance business backed by MISSION UK and established in 2023, has appointed Justin Rodrick as vice president to lead its US expansion. Altea is entering the market through MISSION’s US platform, with underwriting through Accelerant’s Risk Exchange platform and an initial focus on small to mid-market miscellaneous medical facilities and allied healthcare providers. Formal underwriting is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Rodrick previously held underwriting and program leadership roles at AIG, Liberty Mutual/Ironshore, and Coverys, where he helped build its delegated authority programs unit. Altea’s stated approach, participating alongside existing capacity providers or taking programs in their entirety, gives MGAs in the allied healthcare and medical facilities space a new capacity option to consider alongside established markets.
