Broking giant Marsh has appointed David Bidmead as its new Region Head for the Pacific, replacing John Richardson, who is retiring at the end of the year. Mr Bidmead, who is a director of Marsh in Australia, will assume the new role from January.

He will have responsibility for Marsh’s operations in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

For the past two years Mr Bidmead has led Marsh’s operations in NSW, Queensland and the ACT. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry having held a variety of senior management positions at Marsh. Mr Richardson will become Non-Executive Chairman of Marsh for at least 18 months after Mr Bidmead takes over.