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Willis Finex duo Kean and Wakefield head to McGill

Two Willis Towers Watson Finex Global executives are to join broking start-up McGill & Partners, The Insurance Insider can reveal.  

Francis Kean, executive director of Willis’ financial, executive and professional risk unit, and Mark Wakefield, head of broking at Finex Global and directors’ and officers’ practice leader, are to depart for the new firm, sources said. 

The move will reunite the pair with Julian Martin, a former executive director at Aon, who also recently joined the start-up. Martin worked with Kean and Wakefield in the Finex team before his departure to Aon four years ago. 

Kean has worked for Willis since September 2010, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, he worked at law firm Barlow Lyde & Gilbert for 25 years before its 2011 merger with Clyde & Co.  

Wakefield joined Willis as an executive director in 2005, his LinkedIn profile shows. He was previously a director at HSBC for two years and, before that, was a vice president at Marsh for five years. 

McGill & Partners, which opened its doors in May, has spent the intervening months arming itself with talent.  

Earlier this week, the company confirmed it would bring London market stalwart John Lloyd on board as chairman in early October, in a widely anticipated move. 

The top team is comprised of CFO Oliver Corbett, a former Hyperion executive, COO Denise Garland, who held the same role at Tokio Marine Kiln, and head of strategy and innovation Stephen Cross, a former Everest Insurance Ireland CEO and CUO.  

Karl Hennessy, former CEO of MGA-focused Aon Carrier Solutions, has also joined as head of broking. Other notable arrivals include former CEO of JLT’s marine business Gordon Longley, Joe Trotti from AIG and Brian Kirwan, the former UK CEO of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty.  

McGill & Partners and Willis declined to comment. 

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