CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 24, 2025--
HDI Global Insurance Company (HGIC), the U.S. carrier of international Corporate & Specialty insurer HDI Global (HDI), today announced that Todd Spight has joined the company as its new Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). With extensive experience leading security strategies across highly regulated industries, including insurance, government, education, and manufacturing, Spight will lead HGICs security initiatives, driving efforts to strengthen security from data protection to compliance.
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”We're thrilled to welcome Todd to the HDI team,” saidKashif Syed, Chief Information & Transformation Officer of HGIC. ”As we continue to grow and innovate, Todd’s deep expertise in leading enterprise cybersecurity initiatives, aligning IT with business strategies, and managing risk across hybrid environments will be critical in reinforcing our trust and security posture. His proven ability to manage complex security operations and build high-performing teams aligns perfectly with our vision.”
In a career spanning over two decades, Spight’s leadership has driven measurable outcomes, including expansion in cybersecurity consulting capability within Governance, Risk, and Compliance, vulnerability and threat landscape scanning resulting in cybersecurity readiness. Prior to joining HDI, he held executive level roles at multiple firms where he contributed directly to global expansion initiatives across the EU and Asia-Pacific regions.
“I’m excited to join HDI and be part of large-scale global initiatives that will enable the company for future success,” said Spight. “With information security becoming ever more paramount, I look forward in working collaboratively with colleagues from across the globe, to build resilient solutions for the benefit our business partners.”
Spight holds a master’s in information technology from Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering, an alumnus of Kellogg School of Management and a graduate of University of Chicago Booth School of Business’s Chicago Management Institute (CMI) program.
About HDI Global (HDI)
As a Corporate & Specialty lines insurer, HDI Global (HDI) meets the needs of SMEs, industrial companies, middle market and corporate clients with insurance solutions that are specifically tailored to their requirements. In addition to HDI's prominent position in the German and broader European market, the company has access to its own worldwide HDI Global Network covering more than 175 countries through its own HDI foreign branch offices, subsidiaries, affiliated companies, and network partners. Acting as the Partner in Transformation, HDI Global leads roughly 5,300 International Programs and offers its multinational client’s compliant coverage worldwide.
HDI Global is comprised of all risk carriers, that represent the Corporate & Specialty Division of the Talanx Group and has been a leading insurer for several decades. More than 5,000 employees in this division generated insurance revenue (gross) of approx. EUR 10.0 billion in the year 2024 (according to IFRS 17).
In the United States, HDI operates through its three (3) wholly owned subsidiaries, HDI Global Insurance Company, a commercial property and casualty insurer headquartered in Chicago, IL and licensed in all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, HDI Global Select Insurance Company, a commercial property and casualty insurer licensed in Washington D.C., and in all US states with the exception of Rhode Island, and HDI Specialty Insurance Company, an Illinois domestic surplus lines insurer who provides both primary and excess coverage to specialized industries and is also authorized to write business nationwide.
The rating agency Standard & Poor’s has given the Talanx Primary Group a financial strength rating of AA-/stable (very strong) and AM Best has assigned the rating of A+ (superior). Talanx AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the MDAX.
Disclaimer
This news release may include forward-looking statements which are based on certain assumptions, expectations and opinions of the management of Talanx AG and HDI Global SE. These statements are, therefore, subject to certain known or unknown risks and uncertainties. A variety of factors, many of which are beyond Talanx AG’s and HDI Global SE’s control, affect our business activities, business strategy, results, performance and achievements. Should one or more of these factors or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results, performance or achievements of Talanx AG and HDI Global SE may vary materially from those expressed or implied in the relevant forward-looking statement. Talanx AG and HDI Global SE do not guarantee that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor do Talanx AG and HDI Global SE accept any responsibility for the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. Talanx AG and HDI Global SE neither intend, nor assume any obligation, to update or revise these forward-looking statements in light of developments which differ from those anticipated.
Todd Spight, Chief Information Security Officer, HDI Global USA
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss Iran's deadly protests at the request of the United States, even as President Donald Trump left unclear what actions he would take against the Islamic state.
Tehran appeared to make conciliatory statements in an effort to defuse the situation after Trump threatened to take action to stop further killing of protesters, including the execution of anyone detained in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
Iran’s crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,615, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. The death toll exceeds any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for hours without explanation early Thursday and some personnel at a key U.S. military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate. The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait also ordered its personnel to “temporary halt” travel to the multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country.
Iran previously closed its airspace during the 12-day war against Israel in June.
Here is the latest:
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spoken with his counterpart in Iran, who said the situation was “now stable,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Abbas Araghchi said “he hoped China will play a greater role in regional peace and stability” during the talks, according to the statement from the ministry.
“China opposes imposing its will on other countries, and opposes a return to the ‘law of the jungle’,” Wang said.
“China believes that the Iranian government and people will unite, overcome difficulties, maintain national stability, and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests,” he added. “China hopes all parties will cherish peace, exercise restraint, and resolve differences through dialogue. China is willing to play a constructive role in this regard.”
“We are against military intervention in Iran,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told journalists in Istanbul on Thursday. “Iran must address its own internal problems… They must address their problems with the region and in global terms through diplomacy so that certain structural problems that cause economic problems can be addressed.”
Ankara and Tehran enjoy warm relations despite often holding divergent interests in the region.
Fidan said the unrest in Iran was rooted in economic conditions caused by sanctions, rather than ideological opposition to the government.
Iranians have been largely absent from an annual pilgrimage to Baghdad, Iraq, to commemorate the death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, one of the twelve Shiite imams.
Many Iranian pilgrims typically make the journey every year for the annual religious rituals.
Streets across Baghdad were crowded with pilgrims Thursday. Most had arrived on foot from central and southern provinces of Iraq, heading toward the shrine of Imam al-Kadhim in the Kadhimiya district in northern Baghdad,
Adel Zaidan, who owns a hotel near the shrine, said the number of Iranian visitors this year compared to previous years was very small. Other residents agreed.
“This visit is different from previous ones. It lacks the large numbers of Iranian pilgrims, especially in terms of providing food and accommodation,” said Haider Al-Obaidi.
Europe’s largest airline group said Thursday it would halt night flights to and from Tel Aviv and Jordan's capital Amman for five days, citing security concerns as fears grow that unrest in Iran could spiral into wider regional violence.
Lufthansa — which operates Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — said flights would run only during daytime hours from Thursday through Monday “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” It said the change would ensure its staff — which includes unionized cabin crews and pilots -- would not be required to stay overnight in the region.
The airline group also said its planes would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace, key corridors for air travel between the Middle East and Asia.
Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for several hours early Thursday without explanation.
A spokesperson for Israel’s Airport Authority, which oversees Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, said the airport was operating as usual.
Iranian state media has denied claims that a young man arrested during Iran’s recent protests was condemned to death. The statement from Iran’s judicial authorities on Thursday contradicted what it said were “opposition media abroad” which claimed the young man had been quickly sentenced to death during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in the country.
State television didn’t immediately give any details beyond his name, Erfan Soltani. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Thursday that his government was “appalled by the escalation of violence and repression” in Iran.
“We condemn the brutal crackdown being carried out by Iran’s security forces, including the killing of protesters,” Peters posted on X.
“Iranians have the right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression, and access to information – and that right is currently being brutally repressed,” he said.
Peters said his government had expressed serious concerns to the Iranian Embassy in Wellington.
A demonstrator lights a cigarette with a burning poster depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of Iran's anti-government protests, in Holon, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
