Price Forbes has named Chris Harris managing director and head of US casualty, putting a broker with underwriting experience at the front of a practice operating in one of the toughest corners of the commercial market. US casualty is currently the one major line still hardening: Marsh recorded a 7% rate increase in the US for the segment in Q2 2026 even as property, cyber, and financial lines softened, and the segment has now posted underwriting losses for 14 straight years, according to Guy Carpenter. Social inflation, nuclear verdicts, and an unrelenting litigation environment continue to drive those losses.
That backdrop is what makes Harris' background relevant beyond the usual hire announcement. Most London-based brokers placing US casualty have worked only one side of the transaction. Harris has done both: more than three decades placing US casualty business across the London, European, and Bermuda markets, plus underwriting stints at several managing general agents. The appointment takes effect immediately.
Harris joins from Howden, where he was divisional director of US casualty. Earlier in his career he held senior broking roles at Bowring Marsh and BMS, alongside his MGA underwriting experience. John
Thompson, CEO of Price Forbes Broking, said Harris brings considerable leadership experience, citing "multiple cycles from both an underwriting and broking perspective."
Dan Walsh, chief underwriting officer of Ardonagh Specialty, has previously called casualty one of Price Forbes' largest lines of business. Price Forbes operates within Ardonagh Specialty, part of the Ardonagh Group.
The hire follows Price Forbes' expansion of its Lectio cross-class follow facility to include casualty lines in late July, a move covering US, Canadian, and Australian placements that brought Lectio's total premium scope to roughly $1.6 billion, up from $350 million when the facility launched in 2021. Together, the two moves point to a broker building out casualty capacity just as facultative supply tightens.
Harris said Price Forbes' relationships with independent US wholesalers and retailers are consistent with the business he knows well, and that mentoring is something he expects to take on as he settles into the role.
