Aon hires O’Connell to lead on cyber reinsurance strategy & growth, including use of cyber ILS

Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions division has announced the hiring of Robert O’Connell as Global Cyber Strategy and Growth Leader, Executive Managing Director, a role that will see him tasked with leading on delivering value to cyber clients, including through the use of cyber insurance-linked securities (ILS).

In this role, O’Connell will be tasked with leading Aon’s efforts to deliver value to Reinsurance Solutions’ cyber clients and trading partners through innovative risk structuring, including the use of cyber catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS) solutions.

In addition, providing broader access to insurance and reinsurance, as well as the capital markets, plus bespoke portfolio advisory services, and enhanced risk understanding through analytics, data science and research capabilities, are under his remit.

O’Connell will be based in New York for Aon, reporting to Randy Stanco, U.S. strategic business leader for Reinsurance Solutions.

He joins Aon after serving as CEO of Bermuda-based Cyber Re Limited and Platform Labs, firms that specialised in cyber underwriting, data science and analytics. Previously, O’Connell was the Global Cyber Practice Leader at Odyssey Group, before which he spent 6 years at Chubb.

Along with hiring O’Connell, Aon said that Platform Labs will transfer ownership of its intellectual property portfolio, that consists of multiple cyber-related data science technologies and provisional patent applications registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

O’Connell will work alongside Aon’s cyber analytics leadership team to integrate this new technology, with a goal to enhance Aon’s service capabilities and value proposition for its clients and global trading partners.

Stanco commented on the news, “Rob’s extensive experience both in the cyber sector and risk transfer – from primary underwriting to ILS and reinsurance – brings a unique perspective. This will accelerate Aon’s cyber product development and sourcing of capital in this rapidly growing line of business. We are excited to see the value Rob will deliver as he works collaboratively with our global broking and cyber analytics teams to further enhance our capabilities and help shape better business decisions for clients.”

Andy Marcell, CEO of Risk Capital at Aon, also said, “With our commitment to investing in innovative solutions and top industry talent, we are continuing to help our clients navigate the complex and evolving cyber risk landscape, delivering the insights and value they require to address the most pressing cyber challenges.”

Aon teams were behind the first 144A cyber catastrophe bond, the $75 million Long Walk Reinsurance Ltd. (Series 2024-1) deal issued for sponsor AXIS Capital.

The broker also structured and placed insurer Chubb’s first cyber catastrophe bond, the $150 million East Lane Re VII Ltd. (Series 2024-1) deal.

Read about every cyber cat bond transaction issued so far, including the first private cat bond deals and the more recent 144A cyber cat bond issuances, by filtering our Deal Directory by peril to view only cyber cat bond transactions.