Willis Re recruits senior vice president and Health Practice leader

Willis Re, the reinsurance business of Willis Towers Watson, has appointed a new senior vice president and Health Practice leader.

The new recruit, Dan Melanson, will serve on the Life, Accident and Health (LAH) senior management team and be responsible for creating and executing strategies to grow the Willis Re LAH business. He begins effective immediately and will report to Rob Fast, executive vice president and LAH segment leader.

Melanson has more than 27 years of leadership experience in the health care industry to Willis Re. He joins from Guy Carpenter, where he served as managing director in the Health Care practice working closely with providers, health systems, captives and health plans to develop and place capital-efficient reinsurance programs. Melanson is an experienced health care reinsurance executive, having held a number of senior roles, including leadership positions with One Beacon and RBS/HM Insurance. He also has experience in the management of underwriting and operations for a portfolio of HMO reinsurance, provider excess insurance and employer stop loss products.

Fast said: “Willis Re continues to grow its talent base and expertise by strategically adding key leaders throughout the organization. Dan brings great talent and has the values and team-based approach that are great complements to Willis Re’s growing team of experienced leaders. He is a highly engaged client advocate, supporting a model that, when paired with advanced analytics capabilities and data, provides long-term value for our clients. Willis Re is uniquely positioned to provide clients with a full range of risk, capital, captive, enterprise risk management (ERM) and own risk and solvency assessment (ORSA) solutions delivered through a primary advisor. Health care clients are seeking additional value from their brokers in health reinsurance and provision, and Willis Re’s client advocate model is proven to deliver additional value to clients.”

Commenting on the appointment, Jim Bradshaw, chief executive officer of Willis Re North America, said: “We are delighted to welcome Dan to the team. With his extensive experience, expertise and leadership skills, he will be an invaluable asset as we realize our growth ambitions and continue to bolster our footprint and client offering. We are invested in recruiting and fostering the best people in our industry, and Dan’s appointment is a testament to our ability to hire top-tier talent as we build a leading Life, Accident and Health business. Dan will also importantly be a great fit in our team, and we look forward to working with him.”