Re/insurance broker Aon has announced it has formalized its Strategic Solutions and Innovation (SSI) practice within Commercial Risk Solutions in North America, with Ward Ching and Michael Gruetzmacher set to spearhead the practice.
Ching serves as Head of Strategic Solutions and Innovation and Gruetzmacher as Head of Alternative Risk Transfer and Innovation.
Bleu Bettencourt will also join the team as Managing Director, Alternative Risk Transfer and Innovation.
The SSI team will aim to bring new ideas and alternatives to traditional risk transfer approaches to facilitate client decision making.
The goal is to bring clients quantified risk insights and scaled solutions for risk retention and risk transfer across the full portfolio of risk that will enable clients to make better decisions.
“Aon has always offered strategic risk solutions, but the emergence and acceleration of disruptive risks propelled us to bring together this team in a way that makes our specialists even more accessible to address unmet client needs and to deliver the breadth of our differentiated capabilities,” said Joe Peiser, Aon’s Commercial Risk Solutions leader for North America.
“There couldn’t be two people more fit to lead this team other than Ward and Michael,” added Maureen Toomey, Aon’s head of Commercial Risk Solutions strategy and execution for North America.
“Ward brings more than 40 years of risk finance and enterprise risk management experience to the table and Michael has led the development of non-traditional insurance solutions and alternative risk transfer frameworks for clients. The two complement each other well and will help us to further innovate new solutions.”
Ching also commented: “I am most excited to carry forward our approach to working with clients by building a team that will continue to bring them innovative solutions. We will utilize the great pool of talent that Aon nurtures and help them deliver the best insights, so our clients are better informed. I am confident that this new structure will enable us to provide superior outcomes for all of our clients.”
