Gallagher has appointed Sam Cheshire as Head of Cyber for its UK & Ireland Retail division.

In his new role he is responsible for supporting Gallagher’s regional office network and clients with specialist technical cyber knowledge.

Sam joins after spending over six years at Clear Insurance Management where he held a number of roles, most recently specialising in cyber insurance. During his time at Clear Insurance, Sam worked closely with commercial business clients to help identify their unique cyber risks. He also used his specialist knowledge of the cyber market to support account executives with understanding complex cyber policy wordings so they could source the most appropriate insurance to meet the needs of clients.

With cyber attacks remaining a major problem for UK businesses, clients are looking to their insurance advisors to help them mitigate the risk and damage in the event of being targeted, and which insurance they need should they become a victim of a successful attack.

Sam will use his deep knowledge of cyber risks to work alongside the regional broking teams to provide clients with specialist support and help them to find the right together insurance programmes depending on what support and cover is required. He will be able to draw on Gallagher’s extensive cyber risk management and insurance placement expertise through its teams based in London and around the globe.

Sam will report into Andrew Marvin, Client Service Director for Yorkshire, who previously led on advising Gallagher’s Retail division clients on their cyber insurance needs.

Andrew said: “I’m delighted to welcome Sam to the team as he brings a wealth of technical cyber knowledge and insight. Sam has a proven track record of supporting businesses with their cyber insurance needs and this will help enhance the specialist advice we provide to our clients.

"Cyber attacks are highly prevalent and with more people working remotely, plus business moving away from traditional IT environments to modern cloud infrastructure, cyber attackers have a larger surface area to target. As a result it’s more important than ever that firms work with brokers that have specialist knowledge of the cyber risks they are facing and can ensure they have the appropriate protection in place.”

Sam said: “I am thrilled to be joining Gallagher and to help its clients further understand their cyber risks. The cyber threat landscape is constantly evolving and attackers continue to adapt their tactics and techniques to exploit new vulnerabilities and technologies. Today’s cybercrime gangs operate like heavily funded professional organisations with vastly more resources that attacks of yesteryear; businesses need specialist advice to ensure they understand the fast changing nature of cyber threats.”