Helios Underwriting, the Lloyd’s investment vehicle that acquires and consolidates underwriting capacity, has announced the appointment of Martin Reith as an Executive Director of the company and as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with immediate effect. Nigel Hanbury is to remain on the Board as Executive Deputy Chairman.
Reith is an insurance market veteran with nearly 40 years of experience across underwriting, management and leadership. This role comes as a promotion at Helios where he was serving as a Non-Executive Director in 2021. In this role, Reith was heavily involved in advising the Board on the curation of the Helios capacity portfolio.
Reith commented on his new role, “Helios is an extraordinary business that has grown significantly in recent years and is seen as the benchmark for private capital in Lloyd’s market. I see exciting opportunities for further shareholder value creation, specifically by repositioning the earnings stream into a combination of underwriting returns, fees and commissions to support further profitable growth. I look forward to setting out my strategy in detail in due course.”
Michael Cunningham, Non-Executive Chairman of Helios Underwriting, also mentioned,
“We are delighted by Martin’s elevation to CEO. His proven experience in driving growth strategies and creating significant shareholder value means that he is perfectly positioned to lead Helios to its next stage of evolution. With a plethora of opportunities opens to us to take advantage of the current Lloyd’s market conditions to drive further growth, we look to the future with confidence.”
Prior to Helios, Reith held board positions at Neon Underwriting Limited and served as the CEO from 2015 to 2019 after which he assumed a non-executive role until 2020.
Reith has also founded and was the CEO of Ascot Underwriting Limited, which was established in 2001 with the support and backing of AIG.
Ascot with his leadership became one of the largest and top-performing businesses in Lloyd’s with a global presence. In 2009, Reith stepped down as CEO and served as a non-executive on Ascot’s board for another three years.
Prior to Ascot, Reith was the CEO of XL Capital’s Insurance Operations in London. The Nick Kilhams Foundation, a suicide prevention charity focused on helping city professionals was also founded by Reith.
Reith has served as a member of the board of directors at AmWINS Group Inc. along with being the director of Securis Investment Partners LLP, an ILS fund based in London. Currently, he is the non-executive chair at Artificial Labs and a board member of Prospero Re, the reinsurance vehicle of Bermuda-headquartered ILS fund and investment manager Resolute Global Partners Ltd, a 17.3% shareholder of the Company.
