Helen Lockwood has been appointed head of Affinity and small business in Australia at Aon, while Kris Karlsson becomes Pacific head of M&A and transaction solutions.

Ms Lockwood joined Aon in 2022 and was most recently head of strategic platforms. She will now join the Australian executive leadership team.

“She has been instrumental in ... significantly strengthening our client offerings and deepening our relationships with insurer partners,” Aon CEO of Australia Jennifer Richards said.

Sydney-based Ms Lockwood previously led Suncorp’s property and casualty portfolio team, and held distribution and underwriting agency roles with the insurer.

“I look forward to ... delivering differentiated solutions and advice to small businesses and associations across Australia,” she said.

Mr Karlsson, also based in Sydney, was most recently DP World’s VP of corporate development, overseeing major capital projects and acquisitions in the Asia-Pacific region. He has also held roles at PwC and Commonwealth Bank.

“Aon is a trusted adviser in M&A solutions and I am eager to enhance our offerings to meet our clients’ ever-changing and complex needs,” Mr Karlsson said.

He reports to head of specialty solutions for Australia Eden Fletcher.

Aon has also appointed Terence Williams as head of commercial risk solutions for Asia-Pacific, effective from April. He was most recently Europe, Middle East and Africa chief broking officer, based in London. He will relocate to Singapore.