Natalie Cabernoch-Froehlich, senior director of insurance and risk management, Solventum
Corporate divestitures rank among the most complex undertakings in the business world, and few functions feel the pressure more acutely than risk management.
That was the reality facing Solventum when it was spun off from 3M in April 2024 to become a new, publicly traded health care company. The risk management team had just 90 days to build a global insurance program from the ground up. That meant 22 distinct programs spanning every line of coverage across 30 countries, all of which had to bind simultaneously on April 1.
Leading that effort was Natalie Cabernoch-Froehlich, senior director, insurance and risk management at Solventum. Drawing on 20 years of risk management experience, she transitioned from 3M during the divestiture to build and lead Solventum’s new risk function.
The first hurdle was conceptual. For decades, the insurance markets had underwritten 3M as an industrial conglomerate. Solventum, by contrast, was a health care company spanning medical devices to data science with an entirely different exposure profile.
Many of Solventum’s manufacturing sites remained physically commingled with 3M operations during the transition. Delineating risk at the site level became a significant data challenge. And in a hard casualty market and the timeline for the product liability program came under serious threat.
With the clock running, Froehlich leaned on two assets that mattered most: deep health care expertise and a network built over two decades. Rather than approaching the broader market generically, she went directly to the insurers and underwriters she knew understood this regulated market.
The property program alone required orchestrating a tower of 46 markets, with access points in the U.S., Bermuda, London and Europe. Each of the 22 global programs had its own structure, placement strategy and set of stakeholders to align.
Three weeks before the April 1 spin-off, she brought on her first team member to help carry the final load. The two of them pushed through the closing weeks of negotiations, finalized terms, and got every program bound on time.
A Day-One Launch and a Validated Strategy
On April 1, 2024, Solventum launched as a publicly traded health care company with a fully executed global insurance program. Every commercial contract obligation was covered. Every leasing requirement was satisfied.
Shortly after the spin, Froehlich completed the presentation materials for Solventum’s board and C-suite, offering a comprehensive view of placed coverages, premiums, deductibles and peer benchmarking.
For other risk professionals facing complex carve-outs or divestitures, Froehlich pointed to a few enduring lessons: invest in industry-specific relationships long before you need them, go directly to underwriters that understand your risk profile, and don’t underestimate the time required to educate markets on a new business model.
“Insurance placement on a compressed timeline is as much about communication as it is about coverage,” she said.
For Froehlich, the 90-day sprint set the tone for what comes next.
“The first year was about building the foundation,” she said. “Now we get to build on it.” &