Renew Risk expands models & hires three executives

Renew Risk has appointed three senior executives and expanded its catastrophe risk modelling portfolio as its client base has doubled this year.

The appointments are Matt Donovan as Head of Business Development, Dr Iain Willis as Head of Product, and Jason Futers as Chief Commercial Officer on a fractional basis. They join a leadership team led by Chief Executive Officer Dr Joshua Macabuag OBE, a co-founder who took the top role earlier this year after previously serving as Chief Product Officer.

The hires bring experience from established names in catastrophe modelling, insurance and climate risk. Donovan previously worked at Chaucer and was Head of Community Engagement at the Oasis Loss Modelling Framework, following earlier roles at AIG and Willis Re. Willis co-founded climate risk firm Tempest Risk and has also served as Research Director at Gallagher Re and Managing Director of flood risk firm JBA Risk Management in Singapore. Futers has held senior posts at Moody's RMS, including Chief Executive Officer of RMS Japan, as well as roles at Ping and Insurdata.

Donovan will lead business development, Willis will oversee product strategy and development, and Futers will work with the commercial team on market strategy as the business broadens its product range and geographic footprint.

Model expansion

The staffing changes coincide with a broader product development push. Renew Risk has introduced catastrophe risk models for offshore wind and severe convective storms, and has begun applying its asset-led modelling approach to data centres.

In offshore wind, the company launched its UK & Ireland Windstorm Model and European Windstorm Model for offshore wind farms. It later added an Interconnector Risk Module to assess risk to the links connecting offshore wind farms to electricity grids.

In the US, Renew Risk launched a severe convective storm model covering hail, tornado and straight-line wind risk in the states it identifies as highest risk. The model now includes hail risk for solar farms across the continental US, with tornado risk due to be added later.

Alongside these models, the business has been expanding its Industry Exposure Database. It includes information such as total insured value, property values, build year and asset-specific details across the locations covered by its models.

Data centre focus

A notable part of the latest product push is an expansion into data centres. Renew Risk is adapting the engineering-led methodology it developed for offshore wind and solar assets to identify gaps in risk assessment it believes traditional property models miss.

Its work in data centres is focused particularly on natural catastrophe exposure and unplanned downtime. This reflects a broader effort to move beyond standard property risk assumptions and use asset-level analysis for infrastructure with specialised operating characteristics.

The shift also points to a wider addressable market for a company that began with renewable energy assets but now sees similar modelling challenges in other sectors with concentrated physical and operational risks.

Insurance demand

Renew Risk said business growth has been driven by rising engagement from insurers, reinsurers and brokers as renewable energy development and construction accelerate. Its client roster includes Aviva, McGill & Partners and Tokio Marine HCC.

The company's pitch is that renewable infrastructure is scaling faster than conventional approaches to pricing and understanding physical risk. That gap has become more significant as insurers and underwriters seek more detailed views of weather-related exposures affecting offshore wind farms, solar sites and related infrastructure.

Macabuag linked the latest hires to that demand and to the pace of model development at the company.

"This has been a landmark year for Renew Risk. We've launched brand-new risk models that address previously overlooked gaps in the market, expanded our team with the sharpest minds in catastrophe risk and insurtech, and watched our client base double. Renewable energy assets are being built faster than ever, and the understanding of the risk has simply not kept pace; that's the gap we're closing to enable the transition. I've every confidence that the all-star team we've assembled are the ones that'll get us there," said Dr Joshua Macabuag OBE, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Renew Risk.