Kieran Hughes Brings Years of Finance Experience to McGriff

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Kieran Hughes was not looking to leave multinational finance and insurance corporation AIG when the offer came for him to join McGriff Insurance. He had just helped resolve a significant dispute for a mutual client when the call came from a leader at McGriff asking for just ten minutes of his time. Hughes knew he had to listen.

Still, Hughes was reluctant to leave AIG, where he managed the financial lines claims unit for national accounts. His team was an advocate for some of the country’s leading companies when it came to securities complaints and regulatory actions from an insurance perspective.

Listening to the McGriff executive, Hughes learned the full-service insurance brokerage was creating a new hybrid position that would play to his strengths as a legal, financial, and securities expert in unique and exciting ways. Nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds later, he was ready to accept the offer.

As such, Hughes joined McGriff’s sixty-member Executive Risk Advisory unit in the summer of 2020. And he was presented with new challenges from the get-go. The leadership team at McGriff needed someone to advise prospects and clients, regarding coverages, claims issues, and financial trends. Furthermore, they needed someone to help them navigate ongoing complex mediation and litigation issues. Indeed, Hughes’s deep experience in law and insurance combined with his leadership skills and industry relationships made him the right person for the job.

“If you can manage the expectations of clients, you can build relationships, earn respect and trust, preserve financial resources, and help to put a client’s company in the most favorable position possible for a desired outcome.”

Kieran Hughes

In an era of increased filings, whistleblowers, and investigations, companies and executives are more susceptible to unwanted legal outcomes than ever before.

“Many in the business world understand that they’re eventually going to be sued,” Hughes says. “It’s not a matter of if, but when.”

As a result, Hughes stands ready to advise clients who are sued by individual plaintiffs, investigated by regulatory bodies, or hit with a class action lawsuit. When these high-stress events occur, he helps corporate leaders understand what to expect regarding timing, cost, impact, and outcomes.

“I have important conversations with really smart people to help them understand things they aren’t always able to appreciate when they’re busy running a business,” the EVP says.

While other organizations focus on sales and push claims to the back room, Hughes focuses on relationship building and developing excellent client service. “If you can manage the expectations of clients, you can build relationships, earn respect and trust, preserve financial resources, and help to put a client’s company in the most favorable position possible for a desired outcome,” he explains.

Today, Hughes not only advocates for McGriff clients but also invites plaintiff and defense attorneys, mediators, and others in his network to share their knowledge via McGriff-sponsored lectures and seminars.

“Many in the business world understand that they’re eventually going to be sued. It’s not a matter of if, but when.”

Kieran Hughes

What’s more? Hughes is also committed to the professional development of more junior colleagues. He serves as a volunteer mentor for industry groups where he learns as much as he instructs. Moreover, he appreciates the opportunity to invest in others the way others have over the years. So, Hughes often invites colleagues to key meetings. That way, they can widen their professional networks and take on new responsibilities and experiences.

The senior claims counsel also believes in serving as an ally to the underrepresented. Firmly committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), he embraces those around him for who they are and believes a diversity of thought and perspective will only enhance a company’s performance.

In May 2023, Truist Financial Corporation completed its sale of Truist Insurance Holdings, which included McGriff, to a group of private equity investors. Now, under the leadership of David Sellars and Dusty Cahill in the McGriff Executive Risk Advisory Group, Hughes and his colleagues can chart their own course, pursue additional growth opportunities, and help improve McGriff’s operating strategy.

Hughes is excited about what lies ahead for McGriff, as part of the nation’s fifth largest insurance broker. “Our goal as a team and as a company is to provide the best client service in the industry,” he says. “In fact, we believe that no one should ever settle for less. That requires everyone here—including me—to be at our very best, so we can reach our goals together.”

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