Willis Re appoints new CEO
Willis Re has announced the appointment of Neil Eckert (pictured) as chief executive. Eckert will lead Willis Re's global broking and advisory strategy, working closely with the firm's leadership team to drive growth across all platforms. He will join the company upon completion of his current contractual obligations.
Bringing four decades of reinsurance, insurance and capital markets experience to the role, Eckert’s career spans both sides of the industry – the broking and risk transfer market, and the capital and underwriting vehicles that support it. He joins Willis Re from Conduit Re, the Bermuda-based reinsurer which he co-founded in 2020 and has led as chief executive since 2025.
Eckert began his career as a reinsurance broker, joining Benfield Group in 1986, and becoming a board member in 1988. In 1995, he founded Benfield & Rea Investment Trust, a listed vehicle raising capital to back Lloyd's and insurance-company underwriting capacity, which was relisted in 1999 as Brit Insurance Holdings. Eckert served as founding chief executive until 2005 and remained a non-executive director of the company until 2008.
Eckert also co-founded Climate Exchange, a global platform for carbon-emissions trading, in 2005, serving as chief executive until its sale in 2010. He also founded or chaired a series of businesses in the environmental and climate risk space, including Trading Emissions plc and Econergy and currently chairs IncubEx, a Chicago-based environmental derivatives platform. In 2021, IncubEx acquired Insurwave, a marine-focused commercial insurtech platform, to extend digital placement and data capabilities into the wider specialty and corporate insurance market.
More recently, Eckert co-founded Conduit Holdings, raising $1 billion in what was, at that time, the largest initial public offering of a start-up on the London Stock Exchange. He served as executive chairman of Conduit Re before being appointed chief executive in 2025.
Commenting on the announcement, Lucy Clarke, Board Member of Willis Re, said: "It is such a privilege to have Neil joining as chief executive of Willis Re. He is one of the most experienced, entrepreneurial, driven and technologically astute people in our industry. His career is grounded in the reinsurance industry, but also spans insurance broking, capital, technology and climate ventures, as well as founding and scaling businesses across public markets and private ventures. That breadth of perspective is exactly what our clients and trading partners need as the market continues to evolve. Neil has built and led businesses across the full reinsurance value chain, and I know his leadership will sharpen our proposition and accelerate our growth ambitions."
Eckert said: "I am delighted to be joining Willis Re at such an important moment for the business. Having spent my career on both the broking and capital sides of this industry, I understand what clients and markets need from a broker: technical excellence, capital insight, and the imagination to apply technology to genuinely improve outcomes. I look forward to working with the team to build on Willis Re’s momentum and to deliver for our clients, colleagues and shareholders."
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