Howden expands Marine, Cargo & Logistics team with key senior hires
Published
Read time
Ulrich Kuetter joins us as Executive Director, Logistics in our Marine, Cargo & Logistics Global practice
- Ulrich provides significant expertise in the Logistics space, with more than 35 years of experience in global underwriting and placements of marine, logistics & transportation insurances.
Ulrich Kuetter will join as Executive Director Logistics, as part of our Marine, Cargo & Logistics Global Practice, effective 1 September 2025.
Ulrich has a strong focus on marine cargo and supply chain risk management, as well as integration of state-of-the-art digital tools and data transparency. He has worked across Europe in Hamburg, Stockholm and Dublin, including Toronto, Hong Kong and Singapore, helping clients navigate complex international insurance placements and claims situations.
Prior to joining Howden, Ulrich served as Head of Global Insurance Solutions at DB Schenker, where he led the group’s global insurance placement and underwriting strategies. He also chaired the boards of Schenker (Re) Insurance DAC in Dublin, Ireland and BTL Reinsurance SA in Luxembourg. From 2007 to 2020, he held senior marine underwriting roles at Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, and AIG Europe. Earlier in his career, he spent 13 years at Kuehne+Nagel in global insurance, claims, broking, and MGA underwriting positions.
Ulrich is widely recognised for his thought leadership in digital innovation and transformation within the marine insurance segment. He has been a featured speaker at major industry events including IUMI 2020, Insurtech Connect Asia 2024, CLI 2025 Cargo Insurance London, MIA 2025 Marine Insurance Asia, and the Open & Embedded Insurance Observatory.
In his new role, Ulrich will join Howden Specialty’s Logistics leadership team, charged with delivering a global logistics proposition, with a mandate to build highly talented teams, implement innovative risk transfer solutions, deepen our specialty Cargo & Logistics capabilities, and collaborate closely with clients to find the right tailored solutions to their needs.
In the words of Daniel Whiteside, Global Practice Leader for Marine, Cargo & Logistics: “We are extremely excited to welcome Ulrich to play a key role in our ambitious growth plans in a dynamic Logistics market segment. We now have in place the right foundations across the world with experienced insurance practitioners who operate as one team with deep expertise, engaging with the broader Logistics industry and servicing clients wherever they sit.”
Captain Hari Subramaniam joins Howden’s Marine, Cargo & Logistics Practice as Chief Commercial Officer
- With over 35 years of global maritime experience, both at sea and ashore, Captain Hari brings deep operational insight and industry leadership to strengthen our specialist marine offering across Asia and beyond.
Captain Hari Subramaniam, a distinguished maritime professional with over 35 years of experience, has joined our Marine, Cargo & Logistics Practice as Chief Commercial Officer.
Captain Hari’s sailing career spanned 17 years across a range of vessels, including three years as Master Mariner. Upon coming ashore, he headed the commercial and operations department of a reputable shipping company owning and operating bulk carriers, offshore vessels, tugs and barges. He then helped to start-up the operations of a leading offshore company in Singapore that operated Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessels and Platform Supply Vessels. For the next decade, Captain Hari oversaw the development and growth of the Shipowners’ P&I Club’s Loss prevention department, including running the club’s global ship inspection programme from Singapore. Adding value through facilitating tailored training sessions, management audits and vessel inspections, Captain Hari and his team devised risk management strategies based on claims causation analysis.
Since 2019, Captain Hari had assumed a broader role as a Regional Head of Business Relations at the club, developing deeper engagement with key stakeholders to improve safety awareness and risk management across the industry. He also spearheaded the club's prestigious Medical Enhancement Scheme for Seafarers (MEDISEA), focusing on seafarers’ wellbeing and their families’ welfare.
Captain Hari is the Deputy Chairman of Maritime and Port Authority (MPA), Singapore's National Maritime Safety at Sea Council (NMSSC) as well as a member of MPA-Harbour Craft Safety Workgroup. He is a Fellow and Main Council Member of The Nautical Institute (UK) as well as the Chair of its Singapore branch. He is the founding Chair of the Singapore Branch of The Company of the Master Mariners of India (CMMI) and a Member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (UK) (MICS). In addition to a Master’s license, he holds an MBA in Human Resources and International Management, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Maritime Law as well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Maritime Energy from the World Maritime University.
Daniel Whiteside, our Global Practice Leader for Marine, Cargo & Logistics practice said: “We are extremely excited to welcome Captain Hari to our growing regional retail presence. We have now set up marine retail foundations across Hong Kong and Singapore with experienced insurance practitioners who operate as one team, effectively servicing clients wherever they sit within Asia, and indeed beyond, as they work with our teams around the world. Our ability to engage with the maritime industry with knowledge-based conversations as well as insurance product knowledge continues to grow, as evidenced by clients who are increasingly choosing Howden as their insurance broker and risk advisor partner of choice.”
- Former MD of Van Ameyde Marine brings 40 years’ experience to strengthening our presence across the marine and offshore sectors with smart, experience led advice.
Master Mariner and former Managing Director of Van Ameyde Marine, Jeff Wilson joins Howden as Divisional Director – Marine & Offshore Advisory. Over the past 40 years, he has built a rare breadth of experience in marine operations, risk management and technical consulting.
Jeff will bring his broad base of marine and technical knowledge to our teams in Marine, Cargo & Logistics and Natural Resources. His remit is to bring the various strands of work around the LNG market into focus and drive the development of our presence in both the marine and offshore markets that connect to the LNG world.
Uniquely qualified for the role, Jeff is a master mariner who began his career with Shell in 1985, primarily on their LNG fleet but also sailing on their LPG, products and crude fleets. After coming ashore, Jeff built an academic career at South Shields Marine School, a world leading institution teaching undergraduates. During this time, he gained an MSc in Strategy & Economics, after which he returned to industry and joined a leading independent tanker owner and manager as a superintendent.
During his time in ship owning and management, he was a marine superintendent, designated person ashore (DPA), technical superintendent and ultimately fleet manager in a mixed fleet of 125 vessels, including LNG carriers.
In 2012, he moved into casualty consulting in the London insurance market, working in a global multi-discipline marine and offshore consulting group, ultimately as Director of Marine Consulting. In this role, he grew business streams across the insurance, P&I and finance markets, including significant experience of LNG vessel damage work.
For the past eight years, Jeff has been a managing director, initially for a boutique marine survey and consulting firm, and for the last three years at Van Ameyde Marine in the UK.
In the words of Daniel Whiteside, Global Practice Leader for Marine, Cargo & Logistics: “We are extremely excited to welcome Jeff to our growing presence globally across our Marine, Cargo & Logistics practice. Our ambition is to be the broker of choice to the LNG market, and Jeff’s wealth of marine, technical and commercial experience brings an additional dimension to our marine and natural resources offering.”
