Marsh has announced the appointment of John Atkinson and Michael Pokora as co-leaders of its newly-formed senior housing and long-term care practice for the US and Canada.

Atkinson and Pokora will head up a team of specialists responsible for offering best-in-class transactional and advisory solutions to address the complex risk financing, risk management, and human capital needs of businesses in the senior housing and aging services industry, Marsh said. They will both be based in Chicago, and report to Marsh US and Canada growth and industry leader Jeffrey Alpaugh.

In addition to his new role, Atkinson will also serve as chairman of Marsh’s Chicago office. In that role, he will lead civic and community engagement, as well as support Marsh’s growing business in the Midwest by working with the current leadership team.

Atkinson and Pokora join Marsh from Willis Towers Watson, where they most recently served as executive vice presidents and managing directors of the company’s senior living practice group. They both bring decades of risk management experience in the senior living and long-term care segment.

“Deep industry knowledge and expertise are among Marsh’s greatest assets and play a key role in our ability to deliver differentiated value to clients,” commented Jeffrey Alpaugh on the appointments, adding that both Atkinson and Pokora have proven track records of “client-focused innovation” as well as a keen understanding of the aging services sector.