People
Meet the team
We have brought together some of the most talented people in the market – who have the knowledge, personality and relationships to make a difference – to create a dynamic team that is passionate about pushing boundaries. With operations in Bermuda, London and Europe.
Meet the leadership team
Chief Executive Officer
Theo Butt
- More than 25 years’ experience in the Non-Life insurance industry.
- Chair of the International Underwriting Association and board member of the London
Markets Group. - Chief Executive Officer for Convex Insurance Limited, UK since 2021 and member
of the Convex GEC. - Prior to Convex, CEO at Neon where he held positions on the Executive Committee,
the Underwriting Management Committee, the Neon Holdings Limited Board and
Neon Capital Board. - He held several underwriting leadership positions at Ascot Group between
2006-2018 including Executive Underwriter, Non-Marine and Head of Property.
Chief Operating Officer
Sarah Faraway
- Joined Convex in October 2019, working directly for the Group COO. Since joining,
has held roles, including Head of Middle Office, Global Head of Change. - Played a central role in building the Middle Office infrastructure and spearheading
major change initiatives across the organisation. - Extensive experience gained in operational and strategic roles at SBJ, Catlin, XL
Catlin and AXA XL. - Worked at SBJ as Divisional Director for the International Department, managing its
operations, acting as the International Compliance Officer, and leading as Head of
Delegated Authorities. - Other roles included Head of Delegated at Wellington and Operations Director at
Catlin. - Led a range of strategic initiatives, including projects related to the AXA and XL
integrations, the evolution of the delegated market, the formation of China Re and the
setup of Catlin’s Zurich reinsurance company.
Chief Technology Officer
Andy Roberts
- Nearly two decades of experience in insurance technology across the London Market and global (re)insurers, specialising in strategy, target architecture, and large-scale programme delivery.
- Spent a decade at EY, where he was promoted to Partner and served as the Technology Consulting Specialty Insurance Lead.
- Proven track record of delivering highly complex technology programmes at scale, ranging from core system modernisations for major Nordic insurers to leading the London Market’s fastest international platform roll-outs across Europe, APAC, and Latin America.
- Worked closely with Convex for five years before transitioning to his current role at Kinetic.
- Began his career at NFU Mutual, moving from the graduate programme into technical and solution leadership across complex data and integration environments.
Chief Financial Officer
Michael Tweed
- Strong experience across a number of Finance roles in the commercial and specialty insurance industry.
- Previously at Liberty Speciality for 10 years, holding senior Finance roles including Group Financial Controller and Chief Financial Officer of London Insurance.
- Prior to Liberty Specialty, he worked for RSA from 2011-2016 where he held several Finance roles including Finance Director for the Marine division.
- Qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG.
Chief Underwriting Officer
Karen Dayal
- A qualified actuary with more than 20 years experience in the insurance industry, having held senior actuarial & underwriting roles throughout her career.
- Joined Kinetic from Aviva, spent 7 years in a series of senior positions, including Director of Pricing, Exposure Management and Data Insights and Chief Underwriting Officer for Commercial Lines. In this capacity sat on the Aviva GI Executive Committee, chaired the Global Underwriting Committee and served as a director on the Board of Probitas Holdings (UK) Limited.
- Prior to Aviva, she spent several years at Catlin/XL Catlin, joining in 2013 first as Business Group Actuary for Professional Lines and Motor covering both pricing and reserving, before progressing to Group Pricing Lead for Casualty, Financial Lines, Motor, Marine, Fine Art and Specie.
- Beyond her direct roles, Karen is an active voice in the wider market, regularly contributing to industry actuarial and underwriting groups and committees through the IFA, ABI and IUA.
Head of CEO Office
Dermot O'Flynn
- Proven experience in market strategy and distribution, acting as Head of Strategic
Partnerships at Convex, aligning strategic broking partners with underwriting teams. - Extensive experience working directly with Chief Underwriting Officers and Line of
Business Heads to source market intelligence, objectively define risk guidelines, and
adjust underwriting appetites. - Strong foundational understanding of the end-to-end insurance value chain, having
held roles ranging from Operations Analyst and Assistant Underwriter at AXA XL,
Strategic Client Manager at an Insurtech, to Manager within the Convex CUO Office. - Has successfully bridged the gap between technical underwriting and commercial
business development, ensuring strategic alignment across key broker relationships.
Head of Operational Strategy
Philip Bennett-Smith
- Extensive experience as an operational strategy and transformation leader, delivering
large-scale change across the insurance and specialty markets. - Currently leads Operational Strategy at Kinetic Insurance Services, focusing on
business transformation, operating model design and the integration of AI-enabled
capabilities across insurance operations. - Has held leadership roles across the London Market, including AXA XL and XL
Catlin, building deep expertise in underwriting operations, strategic delivery and
organisational change. - Has led complex initiatives spanning operational readiness, technology
transformation, governance and the implementation of modern data and automation
capabilities within regulated insurance environments.
Meet the Underwriters
Head of Emerging Industries Underwriting
Donavan Burgess
- 15 years of experience across Cyber, Financial Lines, and Specialty underwriting in Bermuda and international markets.
- Previously served as Head of Underwriting at Relm, leading underwriting across emerging-industry sectors including Blockchain, Digital Assets, and Artificial Intelligence.
- Prior experience includes senior roles at AXA XL and Montpelier Re.
- Expertise includes building specialist underwriting frameworks, insurance product development, and driving broker distribution and portfolio-level governance for emerging risks.
- CPCU and RPLU with a MBA from the University of Manchester.