By James Thaler

Feb 3 - (The Insurer) - WTW has recruited senior Marsh and former JLT Specialty executives Paul Graziano and Mike Giacobbe in a move that comes after WTW hired Lucy Clarke and Pat Donnelly from its rival into senior risk and broking (R&B) leadership roles, The Insurer can reveal.

Last week WTW confirmed that Donnelly – who held a variety of roles at Marsh, including serving as the president of US and Canada and president of Marsh Specialty and Global Placement – was taking over as the head of North America R&B.

The role had sat vacant since the departure of Michael Chang, who held the post for two-plus years.

Donnelly was recruited to WTW by Lucy Clarke, who left her role as president of Marsh Specialty in July 2023 and became president of R&B globally at WTW in July 2024.

The hires of Graziano and Giacobbe – on the heels of Donnelly’s appointment – are an immediate proof statement and provide an early answer to the question of whether Clarke would successfully be able to recruit from Marsh.

Graziano and Giacobbe both worked with Clarke and Donnelly at JLT Specialty and joined Marsh in 2019 with its $5.6bn acquisition of JLT.

Giacobbe most recently served as Marsh Advisory and Global Specialty co-leader and held various roles since the JLT acquisition, including global specialty leader for Marsh Advisory and consulting leader for US and Canada.

At JLT Specialty, he was the global head of data, analytics, and consulting and is expected to hold a similar role at WTW. He previously spent 13 years at Aon, latterly as managing director.

At Marsh, Graziano was managing director and global engagement partner after previously serving as US business development leader. He was previously chief business development officer for JLT Group, after spending 18 years at Aon.

He is expected to take up a sales-oriented role at WTW.

Clarke, Donnelly move quickly

With WTW filling out its R&B North America leadership ranks under Clarke and Donnelly, it remains to be seen whether the executives will carry forward the industry vertical specialisation strategy implemented under Chang.

Under that model, WTW established 12 distinct industry vertical divisions in North America uniquely staffed with colleagues in those verticals having a dedicated specialty practice area.

In a sign that the strategy will move forward, in an interview with The Insurer in December, WTW CEO Carl Hess said WTW would look to replicate that strategy in other geographies where feasible.

Speaking at WTW’s investor back in December, Clarke called WTW’s reputation as among the “finest and most enduring in the industry” after she joined the company in the third quarter, after working at Marsh and JLT.

“WTW is one of the few global brokers that can really actually claim to be global, operating successfully around the world [with] a long history” in the market, Clarke said, adding that “what happened here in the aftermath of the termination of merger with Aon in 2021” left her impressed.

“I really admired in such tough circumstances, how the whole company just went about the hard work of reshaping the business, ignoring the noise, concentrating on what was important, looking after clients, keeping good people, hiring new people, implementing a specialization strategy and rolling out a market-leading digital strategy, all while delivering improving financial performance,” Clarke told investors.

“I really respected that determination and single-mindedness, I could see the results, and it was something that I really wanted to be a part of,” she added.

A spokesperson for WTW confirmed Graziano and Giacobbe’s appointments. Marsh declined to comment.