This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Markel and Aon.
A summary of these new hires follows here.
Markel Taps Talbot’s O’Donoghue to Lead Fine Art & Specie for London Operations
Markel Insurance, the insurance operation within Markel Group Inc., announced the appointment of Danny O’Donoghue as head of Fine Art & Specie, effective immediately.
O’Donoghue will be responsible for leading the strategic and sustainable expansion of Markel’s fine art & specie portfolio to further enhance the organization’s position in London as a fine art & specie insurer.
O’Donoghue will be based in London, reporting to Dan McCarthy, director of Marine at Markel International.
His principal duties will include identifying, assessing and underwriting complex risks across four key areas – fine art, specie, jewellers block and cash in transit – while supporting underwriters in his team with their professional development.
Alongside these duties, O’Donoghue will foster broker relationships and work closely with Markel’s Claims and Actuarial functions, where he’ll keep abreast of industry developments, ensuring coverage remains tailored for broker partners and insureds. He’ll also identify collaborative opportunities across the business’ international Fine Art & Specie teams to enhance broker service levels and drive further profitable growth.
O’Donoghue possesses more than 15 years’ underwriting experience, spending 13 of them specializing in fine art & specie insurance. Previously, he was employed at Talbot as head of Fine Art & Specie, where he led global strategy and execution for Fine Art & Specie across Lloyd’s Syndicate 1183 and AIG company platforms. Prior to this position, he worked at Aspen for more than 10 years as a Senior Fine Art & Specie Underwriter.
“Rising asset values, a surge in high-profile thefts and more frequent natural catastrophes are creating new risks while intensifying existing exposures for galleries, jewellers and private collectors,” McCarthy commented.
“We’re delighted to have someone of Danny’s caliber join Markel’s Fine Art & Specie team here in London. With his significant expertise in managing and scaling large fine art & specie portfolios, we’re confident he’ll be able to take ours to new heights, elevating our leadership position in the London Market,” McCarthy added.
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Aon’s Global ReSpecialty Team Promotes Mitchell, Hires Floodflash’s Rimmer
Insurance broker Aon plc announced the appointment of Jimmy Mitchell and Adam Rimmer as brokers in the firm’s Global ReSpecialty team, effective immediately.
As vice president of Global ReSpecialty, Mitchell will be based in New York and work with clients to structure global treaty portfolios, leveraging his experience and market relationships to broaden access to proportional reinsurance markets.
Michell joined Aon’s Commercial Risk team in 2025, after working at Guy Carpenter and Willis. He will report to James Fogarty, global head of marine, energy and composite for Global ReSpecialty, operating across both retrocession and specialty proportional business lines.
Meanwhile, Rimmer joins Aon as a senior property specialty broker from parametric MGA, FloodFlash, where he was co-founder and CEO for eight years, having previously spent five years in the capital markets team at risk modeling firm RMS.
Based in London and reporting to Ivor James, senior broker for Global ReSpecialty, Rimmer brings strong technical knowledge of property reinsurance, insurance-linked securities and parametric solutions to advise clients on diverse risk transfer solutions.