People Moves: Chubb Overseas General Promotes DePeters to Lead Commercial Insurance, Specialty; BMS Taps Emkes From Lockton as Director of Commercial D&O

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Chubb Overseas General Insurance and BMS Group.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Chubb Overseas General Promotes DePeters to Lead Commercial Insurance, Specialty

Chubb announced that John DePeters has been appointed executive vice president, head of Commercial Insurance and Specialty, for Chubb Overseas General Insurance (COG), the company’s international general insurance operations, effective January 1, 2026. He will be based in London.

In this role, DePeters will oversee the performance and accelerate the global expansion of Chubb’s middle market, small commercial and specialty lines portfolios. By leveraging package and multi-line underwriting, portfolio management, advanced analytics and technology, he will work closely with regional leaders and teams to maximize growth and profitability.

DePeters has over 13 years of insurance industry experience with Chubb, most recently serving as chief underwriting officer for North America Small & Lower Midmarket.

Prior to this role, DePeters held a variety of international leadership positions, including head of Middle Market & Small Commercial for Asia Pacific, head of Cyber Product & Technology Industry Practice for Australia and New Zealand, and cyber product manager for Asia. He began his career in North America financial lines and global casualty underwriting. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Brown University.

“John is a highly accomplished executive whose international experience and deep expertise in insurance make him exceptionally well-suited to lead our Commercial Insurance and Specialty segments,” said Brian Church, division president, Property and Casualty, Chubb Overseas General Insurance.

BMS Appoints Emkes From Lockton in New Role of Director of Commercial D&O

BMS, the independent insurance and reinsurance broker, announced the appointment of Charlie Emkes as director of commercial directors and officers (D&O) solutions, effective from January 2026.

Based in London, he will report to Tom Spraggs, director and head of financial institutions – UK retail.

The newly created role will advance the current commercial D&O strategy and lead new business development efforts in coordination with other colleagues from BMS and the UK broker David Roberts & Partners (DR&P), which was acquired by BMS in 2024.

Emkes joins from Lockton and has over 12 years’ experience in the London Market, having held roles at Protean Risk and Gallagher earlier in his career.

“Charlie brings a wealth of insurer and client relationships alongside his own deep industry knowledge, making him the ideal leader to drive innovation and growth in commercial D&O for BMS,” Spraggs said. “He will foster stronger alignment across teams and unlock new opportunities for expansion.”