Female active underwriter share unchanged from 2025

Analysis

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There are fewer women in lead underwriting roles than other leadership positions.

Women fill only around one-in-seven of the currently available active underwriter positions at Lloyd’s syndicates, analysis by Insurance Insider has shown.

In total, women hold 14% of these roles in the market – the same percentage as when we last performed this analysis in 2025.

We gathered the names of the individuals currently filling these roles at the 120 Lloyd’s syndicates active for the 2026 year of account and performed further research to establish how many of those were women. (Three syndicates had more than one named active underwriter, so there are 123 positions in total.)

Men continue to take up a larger share of head underwriting positions – 86%, as the data above shows – than of other senior leadership roles in the market. Per the latest available set of culture dashboard figures, women occupy around 37% of leadership roles at Lloyd’s.

At active underwriter level, there has been little change in the degree of gender diversity since this publication last looked at the market through this lens. In March 2025, 14.1% of roles were filled by women; as of 11 June 2026, that figure sat at 13.8%.

As the number of active Lloyd’s syndicates has increased, however, the number of female active underwriters has gone up in absolute terms. When we last performed this analysis, 14 women held such a position; that number is now 16.

Over the last 15 months, four have moved on from their roles, six women have been newly appointed and another one (Anna Jay of Mosaic) has taken on responsibility for a second syndicate.

Rachel Grunert – active underwriter of Atrium 2026 – is one of the newcomers to this list, along with Sandy Warne (Sukoon 2880), Jacqueline Wiffen (Convex 1984) and Ondine Bourrut Lacouture (Arch 1955).

Sima Ruparelia was also named as the active underwriter of Niyam 2047 – which began underwriting on 1 April – and Allison Hollern will fill the position at Convex 1987 when it launches on 1 July.

Jane Warren – formerly of Liberty 4472 – is one of the underwriters who has departed, having retired at the end of 2025. The others were Roshni Lillies (Volante 1699, now in run-off), Tracey Hunt (Talbot 1183, now at Zurich) and Laure Kearns (Greenlight Re 3456, now at Accredited)'.

Some Lloyd’s carriers do have other senior women at different levels within the organisation, if not as active underwriter, such as Munich Re Syndicate’s Stephanie Ogden or Chaucer’s Nicola Stacey.

But overall, the results of the latest edition of our study accord with findings from the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) last year that there is a severe drop-off in female underwriting talent at senior levels.

More than half of the 128 female underwriters surveyed by the LMA cited a male-dominated leadership environment in underwriting as a barrier to progression.

The second biggest barrier, cited by 42% of respondents, was the challenge of work-life balance, given requirements for in-office presence, travel and entertainment expectations.

More women at managing agent board level

As part of this analysis, we also reviewed Companies House filings to calculate the proportion of recently vacated board seats at Lloyd’s managing agents that have been filled by women.

Here, the percentage of female appointees was more in line with the culture dashboard data – but still well short of gender parity.

Among the 91 vacancies – including both executives and non-executive directors (NEDs) – filled since we last performed this analysis 15 months ago, 30 spots (33%) were taken by women.

Of those 30 female appointees during this period, 12 were NEDs and 18 were executives.

Among the executives appointed to managing agent boards so far in 2026 are new RiverStone UK CEO Charlotte Pritchard, new Hamilton Global Specialty CFO Michelle Li and new Hamilton CUO Sinead Cormican – who was already an active underwriter at Syndicate 4000.

Companies House data was also reviewed to establish whether managing agent boards have been getting meaningfully younger. In past analyses, we have warned of an approaching “leadership cliff-edge" as a consequence of an ability to attract new talent to the industry and scarce opportunities for upward progression.

This latest analysis reveals that recent appointees have been at a similar stage of their careers to existing board directors. Of the 91 vacancies filled since March 2025, 35% have been occupied by directors in their 30s and 40s.

Among currently active directors who were appointed at any point before March 2025, a similar share (38%) were in the same two age categories when they took on their role.

There has been no change in the proportion of directors who were in their 60s and 70s at the time of their appointments, either.

Over the last 15 months, 25% of appointees fell into these two age categories; among board members appointed prior to March 2025, this figure was almost identical.

Correction: Kagabo Ngiruwonsanga is currently Greenlight Re 3456's active underwriter, not Laure Kearns, as listed for the 2026 year of account in the Lloyd's market directory. All affected figures above have been restated in light of this clarification. There are currently 16 female active underwriters in the market, not 17 as originally stated, and women occupy 13.8% of active roles, not 14.6%.

By Ben Wylie
07 July, 2026

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