Insurance Recruiters and Executive Search Firms Compared

Boyden's insurance practice names underwriting, actuarial, claims, product and C-suite roles.

It recruits for insurers, reinsurers, brokers, mutuals, cooperatives and insurtech companies, with insurance consultants listed across several countries.

For a cross-border assignment, ask the proposed lead partner how local and overseas consultants would divide the research and candidate assessment.

Caldwell reports completed insurance searches across CEO, general management, underwriting, claims, actuarial, finance, technology and board roles.

Its practice also covers CEO succession and board renewal.

The practice serves P&C, life and annuity, and reinsurance businesses. Its listed clients include mutual and fraternal insurers, private equity portfolio companies and captives.

Insurance and reinsurance specialist Eliot Partnership reports 1,350+ assignments completed since 2007.

The firm focuses on insurance and reinsurance, including life and non-life businesses. It recruits for C-suite, board, senior management and senior team appointments.

The firm describes a shared global operating structure and offices in Bermuda, London, New York, Singapore, Sydney and Zurich.

Its search process allows research, scope, outputs and fees to vary by assignment. For a hire spanning several markets, the proposal should identify where the search will be led and how the offices will work together.

Odgers reports completing 4,900 searches globally over the last three years, a firm-wide total across all sectors.

Odgers' UK insurance page describes permanent and interim board appointments. This gives a UK board a relevant starting point for discussing immediate cover and the permanent leadership search together.

For that combined brief, establish how the team will assess an interim leader against the immediate responsibilities and the permanent candidate against the longer-term mandate.

A search in another country needs a proposal from the team serving that market.

Over the past three years, Spencer Stuart reports more than 425 senior-level executive and board assignments in the insurance industry.

Its global insurance team describes senior executive and board work across health, life and retirement, property and casualty, reinsurance, brokerage and risk management. Its practice page identifies governance, risk and capital management, and distribution among its areas of knowledge.

For a board-facing appointment, ask which decisions the candidate will need to defend and what evidence from previous roles would show that judgment.

Stanton Chase says it recruits for C-level insurance roles and functional leaders.

Its stated recruitment focus includes actuarial, claims, investment management, risk and underwriting executives. Its global insurance practice is centered in London and covers life and pensions, property and casualty, and reinsurance.

Its wider services page describes partner-led retained executive search.

Stone Executive's own figures show more than 1,000 senior appointments completed across its sector practices, a firm-wide total covering more than insurance.

Stone Executive describes a shortlist of four to six candidates, each with a written profile covering career history, evidence against the brief, motivation, compensation expectations and the consultant's assessment. It says referencing begins before the shortlist is presented.

A named consultant leads its retained UK senior and board searches for insurers, brokers, reinsurers and managing general agents. Much of its London insurance work involves Lloyd's and specialty or commercial lines.

Capstone Search Group's insurance executive-search process includes profile development, market research, compensation design, direct recruiting, screening and support through the offer and resignation.

That scope is useful when the hiring team needs help shaping the position and compensation as well as finding candidates. A sample candidate profile and search report would make the proposed work easier to compare.

DGA Careers' executive recruitment division, DGA Executive, conducts insurance searches in Canada and the US.

DGA Executive describes regular updates on retained insurance searches. The division describes a team with insurance executive experience.

For an insurer or brokerage considering candidates on either side of the border, ask the proposed consultant to compare the relevant markets and explain how experience in one would translate to the role in the other.

Its executive-search page invites inquiries about its fee structure and guarantees.

For retained searches from C-level through vice-president roles, IRES specifies twice-weekly updates, a candidate-roster spreadsheet and a search-report booklet explaining the work that led to the finalists.

IRES lists surety, actuarial, property and casualty, workers' compensation and professional liability recruiting. Its role coverage includes presidents and middle management.

Its hybrid model uses a modified retainer with a smaller engagement cost upfront than retained search. Contingency search is available only to existing or recent clients.

Jacobson names Tracy Ryan's appointment as president and CEO of NCCI and Joseph P. Sullivan Jr.'s appointment as chief underwriting officer of Coverys among its searches. The page gives no dates for those appointments.

The firm also reports more than 50 CEO engagements completed in the past five years.

The practice covers board, CEO, C-suite and senior leadership appointments in health, life and P&C insurance.

A managing director oversees the engagement, while an engagement director manages it with recruiting and research support. When discussing a comparable appointment, establish which of those people handled it and who would work on yours.

The James Allen Companies names C-level, vice-president, director and other senior management recruitment in insurance. Its broader business also recruits middle managers and staff.

Its clients include managing general agents and managing general underwriters, alongside carriers, brokers and third-party administrators.

The firm lists retained, contained and contingency search. Have the proposed agreement spell out the research, exclusivity and payment obligations for the model recommended for your executive vacancy.

LaMorte Search Associates emphasizes confidential searches and a candidate profile developed around the client's needs.

It describes itself as a national insurance executive recruiter serving insurance companies and brokers.

For a sensitive replacement, agree how the opportunity will be described before your identity is revealed and who can authorize disclosure as candidates progress.

Newman Group Search's retained executive-search service covers C-suite, vice-president and director roles.

The firm recruits across insurance, finance and accounting nationwide. Its insurance work spans C-suite executives and specialized producers, with carriers, brokers and MGAs among its clients.

The Rogan Group lists placements from 2024 and 2025 in production, sales management, practice leadership, operations and the C-suite.

Its insurance practice serves agents and brokers, carriers, captive managers, reinsurers, wholesalers and third-party administrators, with P&C and life and health coverage.

Alpha Apex Group recruits executive talent for insurers, brokers and underwriting firms.

Its stated assessment considers insurance expertise, strategic thinking, leadership and cultural fit.

Bring a role brief that explains which decisions the hire will own.

Cowen Partners lists insurance roles from the C-suite and legal to claims and account management.

It describes a national insurance executive-search practice covering carriers, brokers, specialty and captive insurers, insurtech companies and reinsurers.

In its general firm description, Cowen says clients typically range from $50 million in revenue to Fortune 1000 companies, or have assets over a billion.

Keller lists anonymized insurance placements including a chief actuary at a life and annuity insurer and a vice president of claims operations at a workers' compensation provider.

It recruits across seniority levels and says finalists complete competency and personality assessments.

Keller advertises up to 365 days of replacement coverage. Its insurance terms describe a new search at no additional charge if a placed executive resigns or can no longer perform their duties. Agree the applicable duration and conditions in the proposal.

Slayton Search Partners' insurance page links examples of searches for a chief insurance operations officer and a president of commercial markets.

The practice covers health, life, and property and casualty insurance.

Slayton describes balancing insurance knowledge with experience from outside the sector. That is useful to discuss when the brief allows candidates from adjacent industries.

AllSearch's insurance page summarizes a carrier case involving hires from the C-suite to field management.

Its broader insurance recruitment service covers agency, brokerage and carrier roles, including underwriting directors, sales directors and claims managers.

Nationwide placements at McDermott Wolfe exceed 2,000 commercial insurance, personal lines and employee benefits professionals, according to the firm.

McDermott Wolfe lists direct-hire and temporary recruiting for insurance agencies and brokerages. Its pages describe nationwide recruiting across commercial lines, personal lines and employee benefits, including senior-level leaders and practice leaders.

Ask how a leadership search would be run and which candidate markets it would cover.

PRG says it has placed executives with major global insurers and helped carriers build leadership teams; it names no clients in that account.

Its insurance page describes relationships with global carriers, regional insurers and third-party administrators in property and casualty insurance.

The firm says it has specialized in insurance staffing since 1991.

Executive placement sits alongside claims, underwriting, brokers, account management and operations in its listed role coverage.