Senior leadership appointments this week span specialty insurance distribution, renewable energy broking, European insurance leadership, surety expansion in a new market, and cross-border tax insurance.
TMHCC establishes new European distribution leadership role
Tokio Marine HCC International has appointed Nicolas Pelletier as head of distribution, Europe, in a newly created position effective September 1, 2026. The role is designed to strengthen distribution relationships and support growth across continental Europe. Pelletier will report to Stuart Heath, head of distribution, international.
Pelletier joined Tokio Marine HCC in 2005 as a junior underwriter and has spent his entire 20-year career with the company’s financial lines business. Most recently, he served as underwriting director for continental Europe and Latin America and was based in Barcelona.
The appointment builds on a distribution structure introduced by TMHCC International last year. Under that structure, Heath was appointed head of distribution, international, while Brendan Gaine became head of North American distribution. Both positions were created to improve collaboration across the company’s specialty business lines and its portfolio of more than 100 products available in 180 countries.
With two decades of financial lines underwriting experience, Pelletier provides European brokers with a senior and technically experienced contact as TMHCC seeks to strengthen its distribution presence across the region.
HWF Partners strengthens tax insurance capabilities in structured finance and MEA
HWF Partners has made two senior appointments to its tax insurance practice. Stuart Cook has joined as head of structured solutions in London, while Panayiota Burquier has been appointed tax director in Dubai. Both appointments take effect immediately.
The hires follow 18 months of rapid expansion for HWF’s tax practice, during which the firm appointed dedicated tax leaders in Italy, Central and Eastern Europe, and Spain.
Cook brings more than 30 years of experience across tax, structured finance and transaction origination. His career includes senior roles at Chase Manhattan, BNP Paribas and Citigroup, as well as 15 years at Societe Generale, where he served as managing director and global co-head of structured solutions.
Burquier brings more than 15 years of M&A tax experience gained at Deloitte, Gibson Dunn and CMS. She will lead HWF’s tax insurance business across the Middle East, Türkiye and Africa.
The structured finance sector has traditionally received limited attention from the transactional risk insurance market. Cook’s appointment gives brokers working with clients in structured finance, securitisation and complex cross-border financing access to a dedicated senior specialist in tax insurance.
Similarly, Burquier’s appointment in Dubai provides brokers with M&A clients across the Middle East, Türkiye and Africa with a dedicated regional tax insurance contact rather than requiring them to route enquiries through a London-based generalist team.
Gallagher appoints WTW’s former global renewables leader
Gallagher has appointed Steve Munday as managing partner of natural resources, where he will focus on developing the firm’s client portfolio and capabilities within its rapidly growing renewables practice.
Munday joins Gallagher from WTW, where he led the global renewable practice and the London renewables team for the past decade. He has specialised in renewable energy risk for more than 20 years and brings over 30 years of experience in energy, construction and project finance.
He began his career as an underwriter and has also held previous roles at Marsh, Aon and Jardine Lloyd Thompson.
The appointment continues Gallagher’s broader strategy of recruiting senior renewables specialists. The firm has previously added professionals including Huw Turner and Mike Parry to strengthen the practice area under Raven, who was promoted to lead Gallagher’s wider energy practice in 2022.
During his time at WTW, Munday regularly commented on the differing ways insurers assess and price renewable energy risks depending on the type of client involved. Such detailed market insight is valuable for retail and wholesale brokers placing renewable energy risks and seeking specialist advisory support.
Munday’s move gives Gallagher access to the experience and market knowledge he developed over a decade of leading a global renewables practice.
Marsh reorganises its European insurance leadership
Marsh has appointed Jens Florian-Jansen as head of its insurance practice for Europe in a newly created role. The position brings together the firm’s insurance, investment, capital markets, advisory, talent and digital capabilities for insurer and reinsurer clients.
Matthias Grass, most recently chief financial officer at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, will succeed Florian-Jansen as president of Marsh Risk Germany. Based in Munich, Grass will report to Achim Lüder.
Florian-Jansen joined Marsh in 2009 and has held leadership roles across client advisory, placement, strategy and digital transformation. He previously led the firm’s digital agenda across continental Europe before becoming president of Marsh Risk Germany in 2022.
Grass brings two decades of professional experience, including senior positions at Swiss Re and McKinsey & Company.
The new appointment focuses on Marsh’s insurer and reinsurer client business rather than its retail broking operations. However, bringing placement, digital transformation and advisory capabilities together under one European leader could support more coordinated and consistent services for insurers and reinsurers.
BHSI expands its European surety business into France
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance has launched its surety business in France and appointed Stéphane Fauré as head of surety, France. He will be responsible for developing a customer-focused underwriting platform for brokers and clients throughout the country.
Fauré brings more than a decade of experience in surety and guarantees, covering business transformation, regional strategy, broker and bank relationships, and product development.
The French launch forms part of BHSI’s methodical country-by-country expansion of its European surety operations over the past two years. The company previously launched surety in Ireland in March 2026 under Sean Mulvey and in Spain in July 2024 under Jesús Barbero.
The expansion also follows broader European growth initiatives, including a Nordic expansion and the introduction of new coverage lines in France, such as directors’ and officers’ liability and environmental impairment liability.
BHSI’s France team will focus on upper middle-market and large corporate clients, particularly those operating in infrastructure, construction, renewable energy and services.
The arrival of another carrier supported by an A++ AM Best-rated balance sheet provides brokers with an additional option in a market where capacity and issuer credit strength are particularly important to project owners and lenders relying on bonds.
BHSI has followed a similar approach in Ireland, Spain and now France: entering the market, appointing a specialist local leader, and targeting upper middle-market and large corporate clients. This pattern suggests that the insurer may continue expanding its surety operations into additional European markets.
