MGA Kita lures Marsh McLennan executive to lead insurance

MGA Kita, a carbon insurance specialist, has hired an experienced global re/insurance & climate risk executive from  Marsh McLennan on the heels of its recent £4 million seed funding round.

James Kench joins Lloyd’s coverholder Kita as head of insurance.

In his new role, Kench will help develop and scale new insurance products, build relationships with insurance partners and the carbon ecosystem, and optimise and expand Kita’s capacity and influence within the rapidly-expanding carbon market.

Kench joins Kita with over 14 years’ experience in global re/insurance broking, climate risk and portfolio management from Marsh McLennan, Jardine Matheson and Mayer Brown, covering Europe, Asia and the Americas. His background spans re/insurance, law, finance, accounting, biology/chemistry and insurance product development.

Kench’s appointment follows an Kita’ recent £4 million seed round raise, led by Octopus Ventures, alongside existing investors Insurtech Gateway, Carbon13 and Climate VC, and new investors Chaucer Group and Hartree Partners. Kita has also been approved as a Lloyd’s of London coverholder and secured lead capacity from Chaucer Group, with follow capacity provided by Munich Re Syndicate and RenaissanceRe.

Natalia Dorfman, Kita CEO and co-founder, said: “We are thrilled that an insurance industry professional of James’ stature is on the Kita team. James will use his extensive insurance industry experience to accelerate Kita’s carbon insurance product development, thus helping greenlight more investment into high quality carbon removal projects.”

Kench commented: “I’ve always been a big fan of hyper-specialist insurtech MGAs for their agility, innovation and ability to build deep specialist knowledge in their respective niche. So, I’m extremely excited to join Lloyd's coverholder, Kita, to help do just that in the fascinating and emerging climate tech realm of carbon insurance. I look forward to working closely with our broker and capacity partners and the broader carbon ecosystem as we de-risk and enable more carbon removal projects worldwide.”

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