Specialty veteran broker joins Aon’s top ranks in fresh global role

Global brokerage Aon has tapped a specialty broking leader with a pedigree spanning Ardonagh, Piiq Risk and Willis Towers Watson, for a new global commercial risk role.

Phil Smaje has joined the business as global chief broking officer, transportation and logistics for Commercial Risk.

He is based in Aon’s London office and reports to Lee Meyrick, global industry specialty leader for transportation and logistics and chief executive officer of global marine for Commercial Risk and is a member of the global Risk Capital Solutions team.

Smaje previously served as head of broking for Ardonagh Specialty. Prior to that, he co-founded and served as chief executive officer of Piiq Risk Partners and, before that, served in a number of senior roles at Willis Towers Watson, including global head of broking, chief broking officer for Willis GB and chief executive officer for aerospace.

In this new global Commercial Risk role, Smaje joins Aon’s global broking community to further develop how the firm serves transportation and logistics clients with a focus on specialty broking across this industry. Smaje will seek to help specialty clients be better informed with integrated risk analytics and be better advised on optimising capital to navigate volatility.

Commenting on the appointment, Meyrick said: “We are thrilled to work with Phil to help our transportation and logistics clients better understand new and existing risks and match risk and capital in this growing and dynamic industry.”

Smaje’s appointment follows several senior hires in recent months, including Jeff Alpaugh as president of North America, Todd Jones as an executive vice president for Risk Capital, Cynthia Beveridge as global chief broking officer for Commercial Risk and Sean Rider as head of advanced risk analytics for Commercial Risk in North America.

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