A wide range of insurance organizations announced leadership changes this week, spanning global brokerage, specialty underwriting, MGA finance and board governance.
Lockton has appointed Jules Okai (pictured, left) as global solutions practice leader for the US, where she will oversee strategy, talent development and service delivery for multinational clients with cross-border risk needs.
Okai joined Lockton in 2021 and most recently led the firm's Global Solutions practice in the western US, bringing 20 years of experience advising multinational organizations.
Michael Lombardi, president of Lockton Global Solutions and Lockton Global Partners, said Okai's ability to scale global strategy and develop talent across regions made her the right leader to advance the platform. Meanwhile, Okai said client expectations of global advisors have shifted given the complexity of legal, regulatory, tax and geopolitical considerations multinational firms now face.
Retail brokers with multinational clients who lack their own global capabilities often lean on a wholesale or network partner like Lockton's Global Solutions practice to place cross-border risk.
A newly appointed national leader consolidating strategy and talent development is worth flagging to any client-facing broker whose book includes multinational accounts, since it may signal changes in how quickly Lockton can respond to complex placements going forward.
Ames & Gough has promoted David Pearson (pictured, center) and Santina Ragonese (pictured, right) to assistant vice president in its Boston office, both senior account managers serving the firm's design firm clients across New England.
Pearson joined the firm in 2015 with nearly 30 years of industry experience, while Ragonese joined in 2021 with more than 15 years handling property and casualty coverage for design firms. Brett Gough, the firm's chief operating officer, said both had helped the Boston team consistently deliver for clients in an increasingly complex risk environment.
These are internal promotions rather than a market-facing shift, but for referring brokers or co-brokers working alongside Ames & Gough on design professional accounts in New England, having both account managers formally elevated signals continuity in the specific relationships clients already rely on, a reassurance worth passing along to any shared clients concerned about turnover on their account team.
Upland Capital Group has promoted Charles Roscopf (pictured immediately above) to senior vice president and chief financial officer, succeeding co-founder Mark Morrison, who moves into a senior adviser role and vice chairman of the board at Upland Specialty.
Roscopf joined Upland in August 2025 as vice president of capital markets after six years as an auditor at EY and a decade in chief accounting officer and controller roles at private equity and family office-backed financial services firms.
Todd Hart, Upland's chairman and chief executive, credited Morrison with building the company's financial foundation and said Roscopf's technical background positioned him to build on it.
A finance leadership change at a specialty insurer carries less day-to-day relevance for placing agents than an underwriting or distribution appointment, but Morrison's continued board involvement alongside Roscopf's capital markets background suggests continuity in Upland's financial discipline, a factor worth noting for brokers weighing a specialty carrier's long-term capacity stability before committing a program to it.
Relm Insurance has named Sue Crawford (pictured immediately above) SVP, head of distribution, reporting to chief underwriting officer Shane Doyle.
Crawford joins from Acrisure, where she managed the firm's eight largest strategic carrier partnerships, and brings more than 25 years of distribution experience across the US, London and Australia/New Zealand markets, including prior roles at Aon and Marsh. She succeeds Christian Capes-Davies, who has moved into a newly created group head of innovation and digital capital role.
Crawford said emerging risk categories like digital assets, AI and space are becoming core to how brokers serve clients rather than remaining niche.
Crawford's stated priority, getting brokers and carriers in the room earlier on emerging risk placements rather than working in silos, is a concrete signal that Relm intends to make its underwriting appetite for digital assets, AI and space risk easier for brokers to access and route client business toward, rather than leaving those product lines to be discovered case by case.
MSIG USA has named Carrie Brodzinski chief underwriting officer, bringing nearly 30 years of specialty underwriting experience.
Peter McKenna, MSIG USA's chief executive, said Brodzinski's experience spans virtually every dimension of building sophisticated specialty businesses.
A new chief underwriting officer typically means a fresh look at portfolio strategy and risk appetite across a carrier's specialty lines. Brokers with active MSIG USA placements, particularly in specialty and financial lines given Brodzinski's AIG and AXA XL background, should expect underwriting guidelines and appetite to be reviewed under her tenure, making this a reasonable moment to check in with underwriting contacts on any pending or renewal business.
Starwind Specialty Insurance Services, a CRC Group company, has appointed Ashley Orth (pictured immediately above) as chief operating officer, where she will lead operational strategy across the business.
Orth brings nearly 20 years of experience spanning underwriting, operations and executive leadership. Alex Bonds, co-president of Starwind Specialty, said Orth's background would help the company scale without losing its entrepreneurial culture.
Operational appointments like this one tend to affect brokers indirectly but meaningfully, through submission turnaround times, binding speed and service consistency as a specialty underwriter scales.
Brokers placing business through Starwind Specialty may see process changes over the coming months as Orth's operational transformation work takes effect, and it is worth watching whether service levels improve or shift during that transition.
DUAL North America has appointed Sam Fowler as SVP, Tax, adding dedicated tax underwriting leadership to its global Transactional Risk platform.
Fowler brings a decade of experience in US tax matters and joins following the earlier appointment of Terry Enright as SVP, Representations & Warranties, giving DUAL dedicated leadership across both core coverages within its Transactional Risk business.
Paul Smith, DUAL's Group Head of Transactional Risk, said standing up a dedicated tax offering was the natural next step following Enright's arrival.
For brokers working on M&A transactions, having a dedicated US tax underwriter at DUAL, paired with its existing R&W leadership, means tax liability and representations and warranties coverage can now be sourced from the same platform rather than split across separate markets.
That consolidation is worth flagging to any client-facing broker handling deal-related coverage, since it may simplify how transactional risk placements get structured going forward.
Arden Insurance Services, a tech-enabled MGU, has named Brad Perilman chief financial officer.
Perilman joins from Integrated Specialty Coverages, where he served as CFO, and previously held the same role at Atlas General Holdings, along with executive positions at Worldwide Facilities and Aon Benfield Securities.
Brian Cohen, Arden's co-founder and chief executive, said Perilman's appointment, alongside chief accounting officer James Conway's earlier hire this year, rounds out a finance leadership team built to support the company's continued growth. Arden has surpassed $375 million in in-force premium since FTV Capital's 2024 growth equity investment and was named MGA of the Year by The Insurer in 2025.
A strengthened finance function behind a fast-growing MGU is generally a reassuring signal for brokers placing business through Arden, since it suggests the company is building the financial infrastructure to support continued capacity and program stability rather than growing faster than its back office can manage, a common risk brokers should watch for with any rapidly scaling MGA partner.
Oregon Mutual Insurance has appointed June Holmes to its board of directors, effective August 5.
Holmes brings more than 40 years of property and casualty experience, including senior operating, financial and governance roles at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, where she played a central role in two organizational mergers as chief operating officer.
Steven Patterson, Oregon Mutual's president and chief executive, said Holmes' governance depth and financial discipline would benefit the board.
For independent agents appointed to write Oregon Mutual, a board addition with deep trade association and governance experience, rather than a distribution or underwriting background, signals continued attention to the carrier's financial discipline and regulatory positioning rather than an imminent shift in underwriting appetite or agency relationships.
CVS Health has appointed Teresa Heitsenrether, currently chief data and analytics officer at JPMorgan Chase, to its board of directors effective November 18.
The company also announced the departure of Larry Robbins, chief executive of Glenview Capital, from the board effective August 13, after a two-year tenure that included work on the Audit and Public Policy and External Affairs Committees.
David Joyner, CVS Health's chair and chief executive, credited Robbins with helping sharpen the company's financial and operational focus during a period of transition, and said Heitsenrether's data and AI expertise would support the company's continued transformation.
