​Specialist drone MGA hires ex-Brit senior manager as chief operating officer

Moonrock Drone Insurance has hired Rachel Oliver as its new chief operating officer.

Oliver joins the specialist drone MGA from Aioi Nissay Dowa UK, where she has been an operations resilience consultant since April 2024.

Simon Ritterband, managing director and founder at Moonrock, said: “We are thrilled to welcome someone of [Oliver’s] exceptional calibre and extensive experience to the Moonrock team.

“Her deep expertise in the field will be invaluable as we accelerate our expansion across both the commercial and hobby drone insurance sectors. [Oliver’s] leadership will undoubtedly play a key role in driving our ambitious growth plans forward.”

The news follows Moonrock achieving Lloyd’s coverholder status in May 2024 – the MGA provides commercial and bespoke drone insurance as well as cover for hobbyists.

The UK drone industry is estimated to contribute £45bn to the UK economy by 2030, helps reduce carbon emissions by nearly 2.5m tonnes and could also create up to 650,000 jobs.

Return to sector

Oliver has more than two decades of experience in insurance and, although she started her career in aviation, said she was “delighted to return to the sector”.

Oliver entered the industry on a graduate programme as an underwriting assistant for aviation insurer Global Aerospace.

She said: “This sector is rapidly evolving and I find the exploration of new drone capabilities and activities massively interesting, such as the use of drones in search and rescue, agriculture, delivering medicines to faraway places and even parcel delivery. The scale of the opportunity is really exciting and I am delighted to be part of it.”

“Moonrock is a dynamic, innovative, fast growing business with huge amounts of potential. I’m excited to be part of its growth and journey. Drone insurance is constantly evolving to support the changing requirements of the industry and I hope to be able to anticipate the challenges and bring the agility needed to support Moonrock’s success.”

Prior to Aioi Nissay Dowa UK, Oliver spent four years at Brit Insurance in a number of senior roles, including head of operational agility and interim head of delegated underwriting management, between October 2019 and November 2023.

She also spent more than nine years at Amlin between Feb 2007 and July 2012 across various roles, such as actuarial operations manager and business analyst.