Global professional services firm Marsh & McLennan Companies announced that Melvin Schwarz will retire as general counsel of Guy Carpenter, the company's reinsurance subsidiary, at the end of this year. Schwarz joined Guy Carpenter as general counsel in 2005.

Succeeding him is Katherine Brennan, currently senior counsel for corporate and securities matters. She also will Schwarz's role as a member of Guy Carpenter's board of managers and global operating committee, effective Jan. 1, 2014. She will report to Marsh & McLennan's Executive Vice President and General Counsel Peter Beshar, and Guy Carpenter's President and CEO Alexander Moczarski.

Brennan, who joined the Marsh & McLennan legal team in 2008, has also served as assistant corporate secretary and worked closely with the company's board of directors, including acting as secretary of the audit committee. Prior to joining the company, Brennan was a corporate lawyer at Dewey & LeBoeuf.