Sullivan leaves Willis plus more people moves

Martin Sullivan, the deputy chairman of Willis Group Holdings and chairman and CEO of the Willis Global Solutions unit, will leave the firm in May 2013, after a transition, to pursue other interests.

Following Sullivan’s departure, Willis Group’s corporate governance will be streamlined to include the CEO, deputy CEO and non-executive chairman, supported by the Willis Group Operating Committee, the broker has said. Deputy CEO Steve Hearn, in his role as CEO of Willis Global, will lead the Global Solutions unit.

JLT Reinsurance (North America) has appointed Mark Maxson as executive vice president of West Coast operations. Maxson has over 25 years’ experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry. Prior to joining JLT Re, he worked for Willis Re in the production and servicing of property and casualty reinsurance

Marsh has merged two of its large global units – its multinational practice and its G5, its largest account platform, with its existing risk management operations to form a single global risk management practice group. The group will be led by Tim Gardner, who was previously global sales leader for Marsh’s large corporate business, and created the position of chief client officer. Tim Mahoney, formerly the Global risk management leader for the US will serve as CCO in Marsh’s US & Canada Division while Gilbert Van den Eynde, formerly the global G5 leader, will be CCO for the international division.

Specialist insurer Markel International has appointed Frank Burghardt, who joins from Aon Credit International, to strengthen its trade credit division. Burghardt has previously also worked in trade credit roles for Atradius Credit Insurance and Gerling.

Lloyd’s broker Besso Insurance Group has appointed Richard West as head of aviation. West joins from Gibbs Hartley Cooper (GHC), where he was also head of aviation. He is joined by Gerard MacNamara and Liam Bonora, also from Gibbs Hartley Cooper’s aviation practice.