Former Brit CEO Matthew Wilson took home the Lifetime Achievement award at last night’s Insurance Insider Honours, recognising his achievements over a more than 20-year career in the London market.
Those achievements included his involvement in the turnaround of Brit and the launch of the original follow-only syndicate at Lloyd’s, followed by the algorithmically driven follow vehicle Ki.
The award also sought to recognise his contributions to Lloyd’s and the London market, and his dedication to improving culture and diversity.
Wilson was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer two years ago, which led to him stepping down as CEO of Brit. He has since launched the first ever charity fund in the UK to fund research into the disease, the Matthew Wilson Multiple Myeloma Fund, which this year’s Honours also chose as its charity partner.
“I am hugely honoured and grateful to receive this award this evening – most grateful for the fact I am not receiving it posthumously,” Wilson said.
“I have been very lucky to work with some fantastic people in the industry. Run towards change. Change is going to happen whether you like it or not. When I started, we didn’t even have computers.”
This year’s Insurance Insider Honours saw around 600 (re)insurance market professionals descend on the Hilton on Park Lane, London, to celebrate the achievements of the market.
Dominic Christian, a lifelong broker and London market ambassador, won the outstanding contributor to broking award.
The award sought to recognise both his achievements and landmark transactions while at Aon Reinsurance Solutions, as well as his contribution to the London market, including his involvement in the launch of the Dive In Festival.
The outstanding contributor to underwriting award was given to Andrew Brooks. The award sought to recognise his career achievements as underwriter, business builder and market statesman during his time at Ascot – which included multiple rounds of M&A while maintaining top-quartile underwriting performance at Lloyd’s. In recent years, he has increasingly taken on a leadership role in the market, most recently as deputy chairman of the Lloyd’s Council.
This year’s CFO of the year award went to Sally Lake of Beazley, which recognised her contribution to her firm’s outperformance in Lloyd’s and on the London stock market.
Beazley was also one of the first to raise fresh public equity to capitalise on hard market opportunities after Hurricane Ian, with £350mn of new capital secured to keep it on a path of expansion. Lake has also been at the forefront of their insurer’s diversity initiatives.
Congratulations to all this year’s winners, who are listed below. You can find a PDF supplement of all the winners and the judges’ reasoning here.
Insurance Insider Honours 2023 winners
Broker of the Year – sponsored by Arch Insurance
Miller
Highly commended - Howden
Broking Innovation of the Year
Marsh McLennan – Community-based catastrophe insurance (CBCI)
Carrier of the Year – sponsored by DLA Piper
Tokio Marine Kiln
Highly commended - Beazley
Claims Service Award
CFC
Highly commended - One80 Intermediaries – Hurricane Ian
Diversity & Inclusion Award
Lloyd's of London – Lloyd's LGBTQ+ Mentoring Programme (Led by Adam Triggs)
Highly commended – Arch Insurance International
Employer of the Year
The Texel Group – People Strategy
Highly commended - LCP
ESG Initiative of the Year
Ninety Consulting – ARK – Ensuring humanity's future
InsurTech Product of the Year – sponsored by Tokio Marine Kiln
Hyperexponential – hx Renew
M&A Transaction of the Year
Howden – Acquisition of TigerRisk Partners by Howden Group Holdings
MGA of the Year
Corvus Insurance
Highly commended - Kinetic Insurance
Operational Innovation of the Year
Lloyd's Market Association – LMG Data Council chaired by Sheila Cameron
Underwriting Innovation of the Year – Sponsored by NEAM
Arbol Inc and Centauri – dRe Lifecycle
Women in Insurance Award
The Insurance Breakfast Club
Young Broker of the Year
Nicholas Parker, Property broker, WTW
Young Claims Professional of the Year – Sponsored by DOCOsoft
Hannah Smedley, Senior claims specialist, Liberty Specialty Markets
Highly commended - Glenn Scheideler, Head of claims insights and analytics, Beazley
Young Underwriter of the Year – Sponsored by MS Amlin
Struan Todd, Co–founder & managing director, Pandamatics UW
Highly commended - Ted Calligeros, EVP, Ocean Marine, Loadsure
CFO of the Year – sponsored by Lloyds Bank
Sally Lake
Outstanding Contributor of the Year, Distribution – Sponsored by Allied World
Dominic Christian
Outstanding Contributor of the Year, Risk — Sponsored by EY
Andrew Brooks
Lifetime Achievement Award
Matthew Wilson
