Resilience Bolsters North American Leadership with Strategic Underwriting and Distribution Promotions

Resilience has promoted Chris Pitcher and Alex Carleton to lead its North American underwriting strategy and US distribution, respectively. For brokers and carriers, this move signals a tightening of the link between risk appetite and market execution, aiming to streamline how complex cyber risks are underwritten and distributed across the region.

What was announced

Resilience has appointed Chris Pitcher as the new Head of North America Underwriting Strategy and Operations, while Alex Carleton has been elevated to the role of US Distribution Leader. The restructuring is designed to align the company’s underwriting performance with its broker-facing operations, providing a more cohesive approach to the North American market.

Pitcher, who joined the company in 2025, previously served as Senior Vice President of Enterprise Underwriting Performance. In that capacity, he managed enterprise-wide initiatives including workflow automation, underwriting playbooks, and capacity management. In his new role, he takes on strategic oversight of distribution and operations across both the United States and Canada. His mandate includes building out broker-facing processes and a performance framework for the region. Pitcher’s background includes a decade at Arch Insurance, where he eventually served as Assistant Vice President and Head of Cyber for Arch Insurance Canada. He was recognized as an Insurance Business Canada Rising Star in 2024.

Carleton, who joined Resilience in 2022 as Western Regional Manager, will now lead the company’s relationships with retail and wholesale broker partners across the United States. He is tasked with broadening the firm’s national presence and ensuring that broker feedback regarding market conditions and client needs is integrated into Resilience’s product and underwriting teams. Carleton’s career spans over a decade, with previous underwriting roles at CNA, Intact Insurance Specialty Solutions, and The Hartford, as well as experience on the brokerage side at Costello & Sons Insurance Brokers.

"By aligning North American distribution, underwriting strategy, and operations under Chris' leadership, we are giving brokers a clearer view of our appetite and a quicker path to coverage that fits their clients' risk."

George Kotsiopoulos, president of insurance at Resilience

The companies involved

Resilience is a specialist cyber risk solutions provider that combines insurance coverage with security software and risk management services. The company operates in a high-growth segment of the insurtech market, focusing on middle-market and enterprise clients who require more than just a standard indemnity policy. Resilience has attracted significant backing from a range of prominent venture capital and strategic investors, including General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and CRV.

The company’s investor base also includes Founders Fund, Shield Capital, and Intact Ventures, the investment arm of Intact Financial Corporation. This diverse backing reflects Resilience's position as a bridge between the technology sector and the traditional insurance industry. By leveraging both security data and underwriting expertise, the firm competes with both legacy carriers and newer, tech-native MGAs. The company’s leadership team, including George Kotsiopoulos, brings experience from established global insurers, helping the firm navigate the complexities of the reinsurance and primary insurance markets while maintaining an agile, technology-first approach to cyber risk.

What this means from an insurtech perspective

This leadership shift highlights the growing necessity for a "feedback loop" between distribution and underwriting in the volatile cyber insurance sector. As loss ratios in cyber can be heavily influenced by rapid shifts in the threat landscape, brokers often struggle with shifting carrier appetites. By placing distribution and underwriting strategy under unified leadership, Resilience is attempting to reduce friction for brokers, who are under pressure to find reliable capacity for clients. This move puts pressure on incumbent carriers that still operate in silos, where the distribution team is often disconnected from the technical underwriting desk. For the broader insurtech market, it reinforces the trend of moving away from pure-play software toward a more integrated, service-led insurance model that prioritizes broker relationships as much as it does proprietary risk algorithms.