Cavanaugh Takes Helm at London-Based Willis Re

John Cavanagh has been appointed chief executive of Willis Re, the reinsurance brokering arm of Willis Group Holdings, effective immediately.

Cavanagh succeeds Steve Hearn, who was appointed chairman and CEO of Willis Global in December. In his new role, Cavanagh joins Peter Hearn, chairman of Willis Re, and Paddy Jago, president of Willis Re, on the Willis Re executive team, in addition to becoming a member of the Willis Executive Committee.

An executive vice president and managing director of Willis Re since 2009, Cavanaugh joined Willis from international specialty reinsurance broker RK Carvill, where he was joint CEO. He had previously been responsible for production and marketing of large specialty reinsurance accounts at Willis, and was a member of the Willis Re Global Production Board. Cavanagh has 36 years of experience in the London insurance market.

Prior to his 21 years at Carvill Group, Cavanagh was deputy managing director of Minet Re and a director of the North American reinsurance division at Willis Faber and Dumas.

"As a pioneer in the capital markets space, Cavanagh was instrumental in the delivery of the first-ever insurance-linked securities transaction at Lloyd's and acted as adviser on the first-ever casualty ILS," said Willis Re. "He was also a founder of the Carvill Hurricane Index, an innovative product which described the potential for damage from Atlantic hurricanes, and is used as a basis for the trading of commoditized catastrophe instruments on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange."

Hearn's new role as CEO of Willis Global encompasses oversight for Willis Re, Willis Global Specialties, Willis Faber & Dumas, Willis Global Solutions and Willis Global Placement.

Willis Group Holdings had recently announced that Grahame J. Millwater will retire in 2012 "to pursue other interests" (Best's News Service, Dec. 21, 2011). Millwater, who was president of Willis Group Holdings and chairman and CEO of Willis Global, will remain with the group in 2012 and will provide consulting support in 2013 "to ensure a smooth transition," said Willis. His responsibilities at the group and business unit level were assumed by Steve Hearn and Tim Wright.

(By David Pilla, international editor, BestWeek: David.Pilla@ambest.com)