Willis Appoints Chris Mulligan as Global Head of Risk Engineering
Key Takeaways
- •Willis, part of WTW, has appointed Chris Mulligan, a veteran of more than 17 years with the firm, as its global head of risk engineering.
- •The role takes effect on 1 January 2027 and will oversee 200 risk engineers operating across 30 countries.
- •Mulligan's mandate is to integrate the engineering network with Willis' data, analytics and specialist risk capabilities to deliver a clearer, portfolio-wide view of client exposures.
- •Willis tied the appointment's timing to rising risks created by AI infrastructure growth, climate pressures, the energy transition and increasingly interconnected supply chains.
- •The firm positions risk engineering as a bridge between operational resilience and insurance strategy, with surfaced vulnerabilities guiding clients' resilience spending and insurance decisions.
Willis, a WTW business, has announced the appointment of Chris Mulligan as global head of risk engineering. In the role, Mulligan will unite the firm's 200 risk engineers across 30 countries, integrating their expertise with Willis' data, analytics and specialist risk capabilities to give clients a clearer, more connected view of risk.
The appointment is effective from 1 January 2027. Willis said the timing reflects the ways rapid growth in AI infrastructure, climate pressures, the energy transition and increasingly interconnected supply chains are creating risks that can cascade across individual locations and global portfolios.
According to Willis, its risk engineers help clients identify vulnerabilities, understand potential impacts and prioritise action, supporting stronger resilience and more informed investment and insurance decisions. That remit places risk engineering at the intersection of operational resilience and insurance strategy: the vulnerabilities engineers surface feed directly into how clients prioritise resilience spending and approach their wider risk and insurance decisions.
Mulligan has spent more than 17 years at Willis in a career spanning leadership and client-facing roles in risk engineering. During that time, he has played a key role in advancing the firm's technical capabilities and strengthening collaboration across regions.
Commenting on the appointment, Marc Hindman, North America Leader, Risk and Analytics at Willis, said: “Chris combines deep technical expertise with a clear understanding of the risks shaping clients' businesses. His leadership will bring our global capabilities closer together, helping clients see how exposures connect and act on that insight with confidence.”
In his new role, Mulligan said: “Clients need more than a site-by-site view of risk. By connecting our engineering expertise with Willis' leading data and analytics, we can clearly show how exposures interact across operations and portfolios, and help clients target investment, strengthen resilience and make better risk and insurance decisions.”
Attention will now turn to how Willis binds its 30-country engineering network to its data and analytics capabilities ahead of the 1 January 2027 start date — the integration the firm describes as central to the new role's purpose.
