Aon has made three senior appointments – two external and one internal – to newly created roles within its credit solutions division, part of a wider strategy to drive growth.
Joel Palmer will join Aon in September as trade finance leader. He brings more than a decade of experience in trade finance banking and insurance, most recently serving as head of trade finance for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at AIG.
Prior to this, he spent six years at HSBC, where he held various roles including senior business development manager for global trade and receivables finance, and a secondment managing the bank’s trade finance business in Greece.
He previously held positions at RBS and Barclays. He will be based in London.
Alice Black [pictured] has been named structured finance leader in Aon’s credit solutions division. Gary Lorimer, global growth leader for credit solutions, tells GTR she will be responsible for increasing Aon’s penetration of trade credit insurance lines across the financial institutions sector globally.
Black has been with Aon for nearly 15 years, beginning as a broker within the political risk and structured credit division. She later progressed to director and executive director roles, most recently serving as executive director of Aon’s structured and capital solutions within its credit solutions division.
Aon says Black will “lead with her signature mix of technical excellence and client-centric thinking to unlock new opportunities across Aon geographies” in this new role. She is based in France.
Both Black and Palmer will be responsible for developing and enhancing the company’s sales strategy, managing banking client deal teams and promoting new business sales and cross-promotion campaigns within the commercial risk portfolio.
They will report to Lorimer.
Meanwhile, Melissa Dowle joined Aon in June as executive growth advisor after more than 30 years at Allianz Trade, where she was most recently the firm’s head of distribution for Northern Europe.
Before this, Dowle held several executive positions, including consumer experience director for Northern Europe, commercial director for the UK and Ireland and director of customer strategy for the UK and Ireland.
Lorimer tells GTR Dowle’s main focus will be to grow the UK national and corporate segment of its credit solutions offering. She reports to Will Jones, Aon’s UK practice leader, and is based in London.
“These appointments are aligned with the wider Aon Credit Solutions growth ambitions, following a rigorous selection process, reflecting our commitment to bringing exceptional talent to our global practice,” says Stuart Lawson, global head of Aon’s credit solutions division.
Over the past two years, Aon has consolidated its global credit solutions practice, incorporating its UK surety team and political risk and structured credit team into the wider division.
