Oak Re expands leadership team with strategic appointments

By Navneeta Nandan

July 9 - (The Insurer) - Oak Reinsurance unveiled several promotions and cross-segment roles on Wednesday as the Lloyd's startup continues its leadership build-out.

This includes the promotion of Sarah Walcott to the role of director of underwriting for property.

She will report to CUO James Irvine, with responsibility across property catastrophe, property specialty and property per-risk.

The Insurer was the first to report in October that Walcott had joined Oak Re from Inigo as part of a raft of hires ahead of its launch on January 1, 2025.

Under the new organisational structure, Conrad Williams has been named director of underwriting for the specialty segment across marine, energy, political violence and cyber. He will also report to Irvine.

Williams joined Oak Re in February having previously held broking roles at Aon and Gallagher Re.

Karen Barker is set to join Oak Re from Axis in Q4 as director of underwriting for credit. She will be responsible for credit lines including conventional credit, political risk and surety.

Barker will report to Tom Dickson, newly appointed president of innovation strategies.

In addition, Ciara Svensen, who joined Oak Re from Lockton Re at the end of last year, will now assume a cross-segment role as head of ceded.

In this role, Svensen will be responsible for planning and executive of ceded across all classes of business, and will report to Alex Winfield, chief capital officer and head of strategy.

Lastly, former Gallagher Re broker Tom Morgan has been named head of business development.

Reporting to London managing director Roland Morse, Morgan is responsible for managing relationships with distribution partners and global multiclass clients.

London-based Oak Re launched at the beginning of 2025 and underwrites through Syndicate 2843.

Launching with an initial gross written premium target of $300 million for the first year, Syndicate 2843 later received approval from Lloyd's in April to increase its 2025 business plan to more than $400 million GWP.