Howden shakes up global leadership and structure in growth push

Global re/insurance broker  Howden is embarking on a major restructuring to drive its future growth plans. The company will unify its organisational structure, with CEO David Howden (pictured) taking direct oversight of insurance broking, reinsurance broking, and underwriting globally. This strategic move comes on the heels of integrating TigerRisk, and will result in José Manuel González, the CEO of Howden Broking Group, retiring from his executive post.

Effective from October 1, 2023, Howden will undergo a comprehensive restructure that includes rebranding the holding company and broking operations under the Howden name and a unified visual identity.

Barnaby Rugge-Price, currently deputy chair of Howden Broking Group, will assume the role of chairman for UK & Ireland broking operations, with the support of deputy chairs Paul Redgate, CEO of global specialty, and Mark Wood, head of global practices.

Sarah Hughes, the current CEO of UK specialty, will lead Howden Specialty, which will integrate the existing UK specialty, global specialty, and Howden CAP businesses. Carl Shuker will head the UK & Ireland retail broking operations, while Andy Bragoli, currently executive chair of global specialty, will transition to the role of global head of placement.

Luigi Sturani will continue to lead the broking operations in Europe, with support from Salvador Marin as CEO of Northern Europe and Danny Sever as chairman. Howden’s operations in Turkey will become part of the Europe region.

In the Asia Pacific region, Goh Chye Huat and Matt Bacon will lead Asia and Pacific respectively, under the chairmanship of Mark Wood. Sonia Caamaño, currently CEO of international growth markets, will take the helm of India, Middle East & Africa, and LatAm, chaired by Paul Redgate, with Richard Mockett serving as CEO of MEA and Pablo Bores as CEO of Latam.

Rob Bredahl will lead Howden Tiger as CEO, with Rod Fox as executive chairman, Tim Ronda as president, and Elliot Richardson as vice chair.

Richard Clapham and Kieran Sweeney will continue to lead DUAL as CEO and executive chairman, respectively.

The leadership positions in Europe, Asia Pacific, and the US will be held by Olaf Jonda, Damien Coates, and John Johnson, respectively.

José Manuel González, CEO of Howden Broking Group, will retire from executive positions but will remain with the group as special adviser in the CEO Office. He will also take on the role of chair for Howden Iberia, a division he founded within the company.

González took over as CEO of the broking group in 2018. Under his leadership, by attracting and aligning a formidable team the business has grown from £500m to £2bn revenue in the five year period.

Commenting on the new structure, David Howden said: “As I said last year when we announced that we had reached agreement to acquire TigerRisk Partners, we have completed the architecture of the Group. As we begin the next phase of our growth it is critical that we have the right structure in place so that we are aligned as one to harness our collective power, protect our culture, and to ensure we face our clients and markets as one business. We will do this with our retail, specialty, reinsurance and underwriting leaders working together as a single management team.

“Our operating model and infrastructure are key to our sustainable growth and we will continue to invest significantly in our support services functions to allow our experts to get on with what they do best – serving our clients.”

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