Aon names Robert O’Connell as global cyber strategy and growth leader

Aon , a global professional services firm, named Robert O’Connell as global cyber strategy and growth leader, executive managing director, within its Reinsurance Solutions business. O’Connell will be based in New York and report to Randy Stanco, US strategic business leader for Reinsurance Solutions.

In this role, O’Connell will lead the firm’s efforts to deliver transformative value to Reinsurance Solutions’ cyber clients and trading partners through its innovative risk structuring – including the utilization of insurance-linked securities (ILS) solutions – and through broader access to insurance and reinsurance and the capital markets, bespoke portfolio advisory services, and enhanced risk understanding via extensive analytics, data science and research capabilities.

Previously, O’Connell served as CEO of Bermuda-based Cyber Re Limited and Platform Labs, specializing in cyber underwriting, data science and analytics. In conjunction with O’Connell’s appointment at Aon, Platform Labs has agreed to transfer ownership of its advanced intellectual property portfolio, encompassing multiple cyber-related data science technologies and provisional patent applications registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

O’Connell will collaborate with Aon’s cyber analytics leadership team to integrate these technologies, further enhancing Aon’s service capabilities and value proposition for its clients and global trading partners.

Over the past 18 months, Aon achieved several industry milestones in the cyber sector, including the issuance of the first-ever 144A cyber catastrophe bond on behalf of AXIS Capital (Long Walk Reinsurance Ltd. 2024-1). The firm also launched its cloud-based Cyber Risk Analyzer platform, empowering chief information security officers and risk managers with enterprise risk quantification tools, and significantly expanded its cyber team with senior appointments in key markets.