Icen Risk has appointed Hannah Tucker (pictured, left) and Courtney Johnson (pictured, right) as senior tax underwriters in its North American tax liability insurance team. The move adds two specialists with legal and advisory backgrounds as demand for transactional risk coverage continues to grow across the US deal market.
Both join from QBE, where they worked as tax underwriters for six and five years, respectively. Tucker, who will be based in Houston, began her career as a tax attorney at PwC in New York, advising on domestic tax matters before moving into insurance. Johnson, based in Boston, also spent five years at PwC before QBE, working with multinational businesses on cross-border tax issues.
The appointments come roughly 12 months after Icen entered the US market with $50 million in underwriting capacity backed by Zurich Insurance Group, which made a strategic equity investment in the business in April 2025. Chad Wilson joined as head of US tax liability insurance and Jonathan Spritz as head of US representations and warranties insurance as part of that initial buildout.
Dawn Bhoma, managing principal of Icen Risk, said the response from clients and brokers since entering the US market had reflected demand for "specialist underwriting expertise, stable capital and a market that values responsive, technically focused and commercially minded underwriting."
Wilson added that the team now operates across Central, Eastern and European time zones, giving brokers access to underwriting support across extended hours.
The dual background both hires bring is relevant to how tax liability underwriting works in practice. Tucker's time as a tax attorney before moving into insurance gives her direct exposure to the legal reasoning behind tax positions, an uncommon background in a field where most underwriters come directly from insurance rather than legal practice. Johnson's cross-border advisory work at PwC, meanwhile, addresses growing demand from US-headquartered multinationals seeking coverage for tax exposures across multiple jurisdictions on restructuring and financing transactions.
Marsh Risk placed a record $91.6 billion in transactional risk insurance limits globally in 2025, a 34% increase from 2024, across more than 3,800 policies and nearly 1,800 unique transactions, according to Marsh's annual transactional risk report. Craig Schioppo, global transactional risk insurance practice leader at Marsh Risk, noted that deal activity in 2026 has remained robust and demand for transactional risk solutions continues to grow as the market tightens.
The International Bar Association, meanwhile, noted in a July 2026 analysis that approximately 20 market participants now offer tax insurance products globally, describing the US market as "robust and competitive."
Separately, Icen this month launched its tax liability insurance offering in the Nordics and introduced a dedicated contingent risk insurance product, extending a European expansion that now covers the UK, Spain, Italy, Poland, Germany, Austria and the Nordics alongside its North American presence.
Icen Risk was founded in 2018 by Rob Brown and Dawn Bhoma and operates as a Lloyd's coverholder with a team of specialist underwriters focused on transactional risk.
