By Mehr Gill
December 23, 2025
Specialty was the busiest segment but still recorded a YoY drop of seven points.
Insurance Insider US’s full-year analysis of Talent Tracker data shows that there has been lower talent churn in the US P&C insurance industry in 2025 compared to 2024.
In aggregate, personnel movement in 2025 was 16% below 2024 levels.
This is a continuation of the H1 trend as our half-yearly review of Talent Tracker data showed that turnover in H1 2025 was 19% below H1 2024 levels.
The finding is also in line with this publication’s recent analysis, which noted that hiring momentum in the US insurance sector weakened in 2025.
This analysis considered US Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which showed that the number of job openings in the US finance and insurance sector in aggregate fell 27% compared to its July 2022 peak.
The Talent Tracker US is an interactive database launched in April 2024 and collates all the people moves this publication reports across the US P&C industry in one place. The database is not exhaustive and, therefore, is only a proxy for staff turnover trends.
There was only one month in the year – October – when personnel movement was higher than 2024 levels.
People movement in October 2025 was 37% higher compared to the same month in 2024. The spike coincides with a flurry of hires that Howden made to build out its newly launched US broking unit.
A number of lawsuits have since ensued.
The gap between the two years was widest in August, when year-over-year activity was down 37%. Overall, year-over-year activity in Q3 was lower by 26%.
In terms of three-month rolling averages, talent movement peaked in the three months to October this year.
On average, 49 moves were recorded in the three months to October 2025, but this was 12% lower when compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, while activity picked up in H2 2025, it was still lower than 2024 levels by a margin. In absolute terms, staff turnover as tracked by the Talent Tracker in H2 2025 was 13% lower than 2024.
This period accounted for nearly one-third of moves reported by this publication in the US in 2025. It was also the busiest quarter for the second year running: in 2024, it accounted for 35% of all moves.
Q3 is usually the busiest on the US insurance conference circuit and also starts the lead-up to January renewal discussions, so there are lots of touchpoints for potential job movers.
On the other hand, as is typical for talent movement to slow down towards the end of the year on account of Christmas and New Year, Q4 was the leanest period for staff turnover in the last two years.
The quarter accounted for 16% of 2024 activity and 22% of people moves in 2025.
Busiest lines of business
Specialty and casualty were the busiest lines of business in 2025, accounting for 5% and 4% of moves, respectively. This comes as the specialty market is shifting, with E&S growth becoming more uneven, and the US casualty market remains in flux as there are continuing questions around loss cost inflation from nuclear verdicts.
Even so, specialty’s share of moves dropped by seven points in 2025, while casualty’s share increased by two points this year.
Some recent moves in specialty include NFP’s appointment of Dave Roberts as senior vice president and Westfield Specialty’s appointment of Anthony Baldwin.
Recent moves in casualty include Lockton Re hires of Aon’s former head of US casualty Anthony DiLorenzo and RenaissanceRe’s SVP, underwriting, Mike McCann to its US casualty team.
The other two lines of business to feature in the next-busiest lines are cyber and property. These lines accounted for 4% and 2% respectively of all moves reported this year.
Cyber’s share was up marginally by 0.6 points, while property’s was down by two points in 2025.
In October, this publication reported that cyber and specialty insurer Cowbell hired talent from WTW’s Jessica Klipphahn will take over as head of North America mid-market, and Coalition’s Stephanie Hewerdine will become director of claims.
In the same month, this publication also reported on Lloyd’s-backed cyber MGA Onda launching its operations in the US. To support its expansion, the MGA appointed Christopher Reynolds and AJ Jones as its business development directors.
In September, this publication reported that Guy Carpenter hired Vantage Risk’s Brian Steinhoff, SVP of property catastrophe based in Bermuda.
The hire came as Guy Carpenter sought to fill gaps left by the Willis Re raid on its Bermuda office earlier this year.
Florida and Illinois were the busiest states
Excluding New York, which accounted for nearly quarter of all moves in 2024 at 24% and 22% of moves in 2025, most talent movement came from within Florida and Illinois this year.
The two states accounted for 8% and 6% of all 2025 moves.
Florida’s share of people moves was up by two points, while Illinois's 2025 share remained flat year-over-year. Tort reform in the Sunshine State have led to a number of new carrier formations and also carrier IPOs this year.
Recent Florida moves include Brett Schneider’s move from NFP to Wealthspire and Slide’s appointment of Anastasios Omiridis as CFO.
Other busy states include California, Georgia and New Jersey.
California recorded the steepest drop – of four points – in 2025. Georgia’s share of people moves also dropped marginally, while New Jersey’s was up by less than a point.
In our 2024 full-year review, California topped the busiest states list.