Meet the US's top cyber insurance leaders as they compete to win at Intelligent Insurer's Cyber Insurance Awards USA 2026

Now in their third successful year, the awards honor the organizations and individuals pushing boundaries, driving innovation, and raising the bar for cyber risk management across the USA.

This year, the awards attracted dozens of entries from cyber leaders across the US in each of the individual categories. Competition was fierce and the shortlisting process, more arduous than ever before. Congratulations to all those who made it through!

Individual Award Finalists

The finalists across the 7 individual categories, including 3 new categories for 2026 are:-

• Cyber Insurance Mentor of the Year

Laura Burke, Head of Cyber & Technology US, Canopius

Michelle Chia, Chief Underwriting Officer for Cyber, Design & Select Professional, AXA XL

Theresa Le, Global Head of Cyber Insurance Strategy, Booz Allen Hamilton

Tiffany Calhoun, Global Cyber Operations Leader and Regional Product Leader - Deputy Head of Cyber, Tech & Media, North America, Allianz Commercial

• Cyber Technical Specialist of the Year (New)

Daniel Caplin, Director, Incident Response Americas, S-RM

Hunter Maskill, Executive Vice President, INSUREtrust Group at CRC Group

Jay Vinda - Mosaic Insurance 

Joe Toomey, VP of Underwriting Security, Coalition, Inc.

Jordan Canady, Supervisor - Cyber Response, Remediation, & Recovery (CR3), RSM US 

Lauren Winchester, Head of Cyber Risk Services at Travelers

Scott Morris, SVP, Technology & Security, The Beckage

• Cyber Underwriter of the Year (New)

Cassie Quaranta, Assistant Vice President, Crum & Forster

Connor Weaver, Underwriting Manager, AIG

Michael McCormick, Executive Underwriter, Liberty Mutual

Mike Karbassi, VP, Strategic Underwriting Officer, Travelers 

Ryan Mimmo, Head of Underwriting, Converge

Ryan Kratz, Head of Cyber, NA, MSIG USA

William Perry, AVP Cyber Underwriter, SCOR

• Cyber Insurance Lawyer of the Year (New)

Alyssa Watzman, Vice Chair & Partner, Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete

Cameron Carr, UK Managing Partner, Mullen Coughlin 

Carolyn Purwin Ryan, Partner, Mullen Coughlin

Christina Terplan, Partner, Atheria Law

Darren Teshima, Partner, Covington & Burling

Erin Bolan Hines, Vice Chair - Emerging Data Privacy Trends, Cozen O'Connor

Judy Selby, Partner, Tittman Weix

Mark Herman, Partner, Covington & Burling 

Melissa Ventrone, Member and Lead of Cybersecurity, Data Protection, and Privacy Practice, Clark Hill

Peter A. Halprin, Partner, Haynes Boone

Richard Reiter, Partner & Co-Chair of the Cyber, Privacy & Technology Team, Pierson Ferdinand

• Inspiring Woman in Cyber Insurance

Adriana Garcia, SVP, US Head of Cyber and Technology, SCOR

Alicia Santocki, EVP, BMS Group

Anne Meeron, VP, Head of Cyber Strategy and Performance, Liberty Mutual

Florence Levy, Esq, EVP INSUREtrust Group, CRC Group

Gwenn Cujdik, Incident Response & Cyber Services Lead, AXA XL

Hannah Hays, Senior Underwriter Public Entity & Cyber, Munich Re Specialty - North America

Jennifer A. Beckage, Esq., CIPP/US, CIPP/E, Managing Director, The Beckage Firm

Kara Higginbotham, Head of Professional Liability & Cyber for U.S. Specialties, Zurich North America

Laura Burke, Head of Cyber & Technology US, Canopius

Maria Long, Chief Underwriting Officer, Resilience

Mariana Swann, Associate Vice President of Legal and Insurance, Pondurance & US Chapter Lead, IWCA

Meghan Hannes, CUO, K2 Cyber 

Michelle Lopilato, Head of Distribution, Converge                         

Tresa Stephens, Regional Head of Cyber, Tech & Media - North America, Allianz Commercial

• Rising Star in Cyber Insurance

Abe Gibson, Cyber Broker, Burns & Wilcox

Alex Capra, VP, Midwest Regional Underwriting Manager, Resilience

Ariana Masole, Assistant Vice President, Account Executive Cyber, Lockton Companies

Bimal Shah, Cyber Actuary, MSIG USA

Brad Davis, Executive Vice President and Head of Production and Client Advocacy at INSUREtrust, CRC Group

Cody DePoorter, Vice President of Cyber and Technology Underwriting, Canopius

Dr. Daniel Woods, Head of Emerging Risk, Coalition, Inc.

Grace Norgaard, Assistant Vice President & Team Leader - Cyber Solutions, Aon

Meghan Haran, Cyber Production Specialist, Mosaic Insurance

Robert Malone, Head of Cyber, US, AXA XL

Sean Fitzgerald, Assistant Vice President, Head of Wholesale Cyber/E&O at Westfield Specialty

Unice Colon, Cyber Underwriter, Munich Re

• Cyber Legend

Catherine Lyle, Senior Vice President Head of Cyber Claims and Incident Response, Tokio Marine HCC

Christiaan Durdaller, National Cyber Practice Director, CRC Specialty 

Erica Davis, Global Co-Head of Cyber, Guy Carpenter, a Marsh Business

Jason Warmbir, Head of North America Cyber / E&O, WTW

Jennifer A. Coughlin, Co-Founder & Managing Member, Mullen Coughlin

Joe DePaul, CEO/Co-Founder, IronGate CyberSecurity

John Farley, Managing Director, Cyber Practice Leader, Arthur J. Gallagher

Lori Bailey, Head of Global Cyber & Technology, AXIS

Patrick Thielen, Global Head of Cyber, Liberty Mutual

Vishaal “V8” Hariprasad, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Resilience

View the list of individual finalists here.

Last week we announced the full list of finalists in the 19 company categories featured at the awards this year.  The winners and highly commended from all categories will be decided by a panel of judges from leading organizations including:

• Anne Meeron, VP, Head of Cyber Strategy and Performance, Liberty Mutual Insurance
• Siobhan O’Brien, Head of Cyber Center Excellence, MSIG North America
• Brett Nakano, Head of Cyber North America, Swiss Re
• Brian Robb, SVP - Head of Cyber/MPL/Tech, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance
• Catherine Lyle, SVP - Head of Cyber Claims & Incident Response, Tokio Marine HCC - Cyber & Professional Lines Group
• Craig Linton, Head of US Underwriting Management for Cyber Risks, Beazley
• Deborah Hirschorn, MD, U.S. Cyber & Technology Claims Leader, Lockton
• Ho-Tay Ma, SVP - US Team Leader for Professional Lines, SCOR Re
• Laura Burke, US Head of Cyber & Technology, Canopius
• Lauren  Winchester, Head of Cyber Risk Services, Travelers
• Lawrence Baldino, President - Cyber, Technology, and Professional Liability, DUAL North America
• Lydia LaSalata, Global Head of Cyber; Senior Vice President - Professional Liability, Axis
• Meghan Hannes, Chief Underwriting and Claims Officer, K2 Cyber
• Michelle Chia, Chief Underwriting Officer for Cyber, Design and Select Professionals AXA XL Americas
• Robert Parisi, EVP & Head of North American Cyber - F & C, Munich Re
• Scott Stransky, MD and Head of the Cyber Risk Intelligence Center, Marsh McLennan
• Shiraz Saeed, SVP – Product Leader Cyber & Technology Risk, ARC Excess & Surplus
• Violet Sullivan, AVP, Cyber Solutions, Crum & Forster
• Yosha DeLong, Global Head of Cyber, Mosaic Insurance

View the full list of all finalists here.

We can't wait to announce the winners at the glittering awards ceremony on Wednesday April 22 at The Union League Club of Chicago!

Don’t miss your chance to be at the awards ceremony where over 220 cyber insurance leaders gather to recognize and celebrate the best in the industry. 

To reserve a table at the Awards Ceremony in Chicago please contact Mahdi Malik at mmalik@newtonmedia.co.uk. 

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