Demex has announced the formation of a new advisory board consisting of experienced insurance executives John De Martini, Alistair Spear-Cole and Matthias Weber.

The Advisory Board will provide strategic guidance to help support Demex’s continued growth following the company’s recent $10.25 million capital raise.

The move comes as insured losses from severe storm surges (SCS) in the first half of 2024 accounted for most of the global catastrophe losses. The United States has seen a significant increase in insurance payouts related to these events, creating new challenges for insurers and policyholders.

The increase in losses was exacerbated by the limited availability of reinsurance for such events, the Demex Group noted.

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“These three industry professionals know that severe convective storms represent the biggest weather-related challenge to the property insurance industry,” said Bill Clark, CEO of Demex. Clark also noted that in 2023, several U.S. insurers saw ratings downgrades and four companies filed for bankruptcy due to financial losses associated with SCS.

The new advisory board aims to address these challenges by focusing on DEMEX’s modular reinsurance solutions, which are designed to protect insurers from the accumulation of secondary property losses.

These solutions also provide reinsurers with a new and lucrative source of revenue in a market increasingly affected by climate-related risks.

New Advisory Board for Demex

• John DeMartini (pictured above, left): Retired in 2023 as CEO of Guy Carpenter after 24 years with the company. DeMartini was instrumental in defining the secondary risk reinsurance market, which Demex now serves. He is a member of the board of directors of Farmers Mutual of Nebraska and Harford Mutual Insurance Group.
• Alistair Spear-Cole (pictured above, centre): Spear-Cole was a former member of the Executive Committee of Aon Benfield and Chairman of Aon Benfield Securities, and was CEO of JLT Re and Head of Underwriting at Qatar Re. He has also served as a board director of a number of companies, including Transverse Insurance Group, Eaton Gate MGU, Fusion Specialty Limited and Bridgewater Specialty Insurance.
• Matthias Weber (pictured above, right): He spent 25 years at Swiss Re, where he served as Group Chief Underwriting Officer and Executive Committee member. He has served as an advisor on the boards of startups such as COVU, Glow, Next Insurance, CyberCube, kWh Analytics and Ahoy! Insurance. He is also a partner at Mighty Capital and teaches at Stanford University.

Clark also touched on the growing number of insurance companies that have had their credit ratings downgraded by rating agencies due to climate-related issues, noting that the advisory board’s expertise would help Demex devise workable solutions to prevent further instability in the industry.

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