Rowan Douglas

Mr Douglas, CEO Global Analytics, Willis Group & Chairman & Willis Research Network

Mr Douglas is CEO Global Analytics, Willis Group, a global insurance and reinsurance broker.

Willis arranges protection for assets and populations against extreme events from natural catastrophe, financial, man-made and liability risks.

Willis employs approximately 20,000 personnel across 100 countries.

He also chairs the Willis Research Network, the world’s largest collaboration between public science and the finance sector, involving fifty universities and science institutions to confront the challenges of delivering sustainability, resilience and financial security at local and global scales.

In 2011 Mr Douglas was appointed to the UK Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology (CST). The CST is the UK Government’s top-level advisory body on science and technology policy issues.

Since 2008 he has served on the UK Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) which oversees around £350m of annual science expenditure.

He also serves on the UK Government’s Lead Expert Group on Improving Future Disaster Anticipation and Resilience.

Mr Douglas also Co-Chairs, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Expert Advisory Group on Financial Risk Transfer, Geneva and serves as a member of the Advisory Panel of the NCAR Earth System Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado; the Governing Board of the Global Earthquake Model Foundation, Pavia, Italy; the Private Sector Advisory Group of the U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the UNEP Finance Initiative Insurance Commission in Geneva.

He began his career underwriting reinsurance at Syndicate 1095 at Lloyd’s in 1992 before founding the international risk information company WIRE Limited in 1994 which he sold to Willis in 2000.

Mr. Douglas holds degrees in Geography from Durham University (B.A.) and the University of Bristol (M.Phil) and was Hon.

Visiting Research Fellow, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex from 1995 until 2001. He lives and works in London.