Marsh McLennan names new general counsel to key business

NYSE-listed Marsh McLennan has appointed Katherine Brennan as general counsel of Marsh, effective June 1.

The company operates through four main businesses: Marsh, Guy Carpenter, Mercer and Oliver Wyman. Marsh focuses on data-based risk advisory services and insurance for commercial and consumer clients.

Brennan will report to John Doyle, president and CEO of Marsh, and Peter Beshar, executive vice president and general counsel of Marsh McLennan. In her new role, she will head up legal and compliance strategy for the Marsh business globally, in addition to continuing to chair Marsh McLennan’s ESG management committee and the company’s enterprise-wide crisis management team.

Brennan succeeds Susan Stone, who has been appointed executive vice president and general counsel of insurer CNA having been Marsh general counsel since 2017. She takes up her new role on June 28 and will report to CNA chair and CEO Dino Robusto. Before joining Marsh, Stone was an executive committee member, practice group head and partner at law firm Sidley Austin.

Brennan has held several legal and compliance leadership positions at Marsh McLennan, most recently as deputy general counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer. She was general counsel of Guy Carpenter from 2014 until 2015.

Connor Kuratek – who was named rising star at Corporate Secretary’s 2019 Corporate Governance Awards – succeeds Brennan as deputy general counsel and corporate secretary of Marsh McLennan, also effective June 1.

Kuratek was most recently chief corporate counsel and assistant corporate secretary of Marsh McLennan with responsibility for public filings, M&A and other strategic corporate transactions. He was a capital markets associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell before joining the company in 2016. He will report to Beshar.

‘I have had the privilege of working with Kate in her current role at Marsh McLennan and know firsthand that she is an outstanding lawyer with sound judgment who knows our business well,’ Doyle says in announcing the moves. ‘Her experience working across a variety of complex regulatory, legal and compliance matters in our industry will make her a strong addition to the Marsh leadership team. On behalf of our 40,000 colleagues at Marsh, I want to thank Susan for her leadership over the past four years and wish her well in her new role.’

‘Kate and Connor have been a formidable pair, forging strong working relationships across our organization, contributing mightily on the acquisition and integration of JLT and propelling our ESG commitment to new heights,’ Beshar says in a statement. ‘They exemplify excellence, dedication and an unflinching commitment to integrity. I also want to join John in thanking Susan for her superb work over the past four years.’