Pen Underwriting welcomes Catriona Thomson as Chief Financial Officer

Published On : 12 May 2023

Pen Underwriting today announces that Catriona Thomson has been appointed Chief Financial Officer and will join the Pen Executive team, with effect from 1 July 2023, subject to regulatory approval. This follows the announcement in March that current CFO Sarah Breslin will become Managing Director of Pen’s Specialty division at that time.

A chartered accountant by profession, Catriona brings a wealth of corporate knowledge, commercial acumen and extensive experience of working within regulated financial services. She also holds strong leadership credentials having been Head of IBA Operations in the UK for the wider Gallagher group since 2014, where she currently leads a 230-strong team in Glasgow.

Prior to joining Gallagher, Catriona spent nine years at Morgan Stanley as a senior manager predominantly in the derivatives and global structured products arena, and was at PricewaterhouseCoopers within the public sector advisory unit before that.

Commenting on Catriona’s appointment, Tom Downey, CEO of Pen Underwriting, said: “We couldn’t be happier to welcome Catriona as our new CFO. Not only does she have the energy, drive, technical capabilities and leadership skills to support our ambitions for expansion but her personality and fit for Pen shine through. Having worked across all four of Gallagher’s UK trading divisions over the last nine years – and having been instrumental in integrating many acquired businesses over that period – Catriona has a built-in understanding of our business, products and clients as well as being ideally placed to help shape Pen’s story of strategic sustainable growth.

“It is also great to once again be able to recruit from our internal talent pool for a pivotal role in Pen as we continue on our journey to become a £1 billion GWP underwriting and distribution company.”

Catriona Thomson added: “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining Pen at such an exciting juncture, with the business in full growth mode as it invests in new underwriting specialisms and a wider portfolio of client solutions. Having got to know the business well, my experience of Pen has always been one of collaboration and customer-centricity, so I am really looking forward to joining the team and meeting all my new colleagues in the coming months.”