The many successes of Marsh McLennan’s Brennan

Kate Brennan has worn many hats, often simultaneously, during her time at Marsh McLennan as a champion for governance, ESG, compliance and crisis management. In recognition of her feats, last June she followed her tenure as deputy general counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer (CCO) for Marsh McLennan by becoming general counsel of the company’s Marsh business. Then just this month she was promoted to become senior vice president and general counsel of the Marsh McLennan company.

Brennan was named Corporate Secretary’s Governance professional of the year (large cap) 2021. ‘She’s a rock star,’ one of our judges says.

In her role as head of the company’s crisis management team, Brennan guided Marsh McLennan through the Covid-19 pandemic, responding to the crisis while leading the organization’s thinking about the future of work. She also took on the extra responsibility of managing the security and business resilience management teams.

‘It all ties back to governance,’ Brennan says. For example, preparing for potential vaccine mandates involved working with employees, communications and legal teams, bringing the issue back to a group with representatives from across the business then taking recommendations to the executive committee.

Brennan has been a champion of ESG internally and externally in her role as head of the management ESG committee and secretary of the Marsh McLennan board’s ESG committee.

This is an extract of an article that was published in a special report on the Corporate Governance Awards 2021. Click here to read the full article and about the other winners.