Round-up of the weekly news and developments from the global (re)insurance market with stories from Gard, Aspen, Tysers and more.
Gard announced Magne Nilssen as chief underwriting officer London
Gard, a shipowner-controlled provider of P&I, marine and energy insurance products announced the appointment of Magne Nilssen to chief underwriting officer London, effective 1 March 2019.
In this newly created position, Nilssen will be responsible for all business routed through the company’s London branch. He will continue to lead Offshore Energy and Marine Builders Risk segment and will report to group chief underwriter, Bjornar Andresen.
Commenting on the appointment, Andresen said: “London is a focal point for the global marine insurance industry, with almost one third of the world’s marine and energy premiums being placed there. As a market-leading player, we want to make sure our presence in this centre reflects its importance with a first-class team. The depth of Magne’s experience and breadth of expertise across our entire product range makes him an excellent fit.”
Aspen Insurance UK names Theresa Froehlich as chair
Aspen Insurance UK (AIUK) has appointed Theresa Froehlich as a new chair and non-executive director of AIUK and Aspen Managing Agency Ltd (AMAL), subject to regulatory approval.
The insurer also announced the appointment of Natalie Waller as a non-executive director of AIUK and AMAL.
Froehlich held senior roles with Lloyd’s of London from 2010 to 2016 within the insurance and reinsurance marketplace including interim director of performance management. Prior to Lloyd’s she worked for Swiss Re in a number of roles, including head of transactions UK at Admin Re.
Waller previously served as head of State Street Global Advisors Global Equity Solutions in London.
Aspen’s executive chairman and group chief executive officer (CEO), Mark Cloutier, said: “I am delighted that Theresa and Natalie are joining the boards of AIUK and AMAL and that Theresa will serve as chair of AIUK. Their excellent understanding of the financial services and insurance sectors, across a range of senior roles and disciplines, will add further strength to the experience we have on our UK boards.”
Christina Allen joins as director of Tysers Bermuda
London based wholesale broker, Tysers has appointed Christina Allen as a director of Tysers Bermuda.
Allen has over 15 years insurance experience mostly within the financial and professional lines market in both Canada and Bermuda. She was most recently employed at Paragon Brokers (Bermuda) Ltd.
Additionally, Allen also has treaty experience which Tysers say will complement part of its strategy in Bermuda.
Allen will report to Richard Tomkins, managing director of Tysers Bermuda.
Commenting on the appointment, Tomkins said: “I’m excited to be joined by Christina to help build the Tysers Bermuda office. She will bring her experience and independent connections to help grow this office, working in conjunction with our main wholesale units in London.”
BHSI appoints D&O liability underwriting lead for UK & Ireland
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI), has announced the appointment of Chris Warrior as head of directors’ & officers’ (D&O) liability underwriting for UK & Ireland.
Based in the London office, Warrior brings over 36 years commercial D&O experience, both on the underwriting and brokerage side. He joins from Hiscox where he most recently served as Hiscox’s London market management liability focus group leader and over the past decades, has successfully established and grown D&O Liability operations for several insurance firms.
Chris Colahan, president, UK & Europe, BHSI, commented: “We are pleased to have Chris rounding out our team of Executive and Professional lines executives. Our team is committed to bringing the certainty customers and brokers need in a transitioning financial lines marketplace, providing Professional Indemnity, Financial Institutions and Management Liability programmes with BHSI’s long-view underwriting and financial strength.”
Vanessa Maxwell, head of executive & professional lines, UK & Ireland, BHSI, added: “Chris is exceptionally qualified to lead our efforts to bring sophisticated and sustainable D&O liability solutions to our brokers and customers. We are pleased to add his expertise to BHSI’s growing team in London.”
Paul Grimsey joins Apollo Syndicate Management as chief actuary
Independent specialist (re)insurer Apollo Syndicate Management (Apollo), announce the appointment of Paul Grimsey as chief actuary, effective 2 December 2019.
In Grimsey’s new role he will lead the Apollo actuarial team and report to Vinay Mistry, who joined Apollo as chief risk officer earlier this month.
He joins the firm with more than 18 years actuarial experience and is currently chief actuary and executive director at Antares Managing Agency. In addition, Grimsey has held the position of actuarial director at QIC Global since 2018. Grimsey has a broad range of expertise in pricing, reserving and capital modelling.
He has previously held senior positions at W.R. Berkley Insurance (Europe), and Randall & Quilter Management service having begun his career at Ernest & Young (now EY) in 2001.
David Ibeson, at Apollo Syndicate Management, said: “Apollo places great value on the talent within our team. Supported by our analytics and actuarial unit, we are constantly working to optimise our business pipeline, employing data, state-of-the-art technology and best-in-class modelling to evaluate our portfolio. Paul will be a great addition to the business as we work to consolidate and grow our actuarial and risk functions. He is a highly respected actuarial professional and his deep knowledge and experience will be invaluable in supporting the underwriting team.”
AXA UK add two new hires to Delegated Authorities team
AXA UK have announced two new key hires of Gary Head and Joel Markham within its Delegated Authorities team. They will both take up their roles early January 2020.
Head has been appointed as director of delegated authorities and joins the company from Hiscox where he previously spent 23 years. He most recently served as managing director of alternative distribution and prior to that he was chief underwriting officer.
In Heads new role he will be tasked with profitability expanding the Delegated Authorities business at AXA UK and report to Deepak Soni, director of commercial intermediary.
Meanwhile, Markham will join Head’s team and has been named head of sales and marketing for Delegated Authorities and joins the business from Ageas where he served as the head of regional distribution for both personal and commercial lines. Prior to that he has also held positions at Allianz and Zurich.
Gary Head, incoming director of Delegated Authorities said: “It is an absolute privilege to be given the opportunity to build on the great success the team have already achieved. I can’t wait to bring the might of the AXA brand to the table for existing and new partners alike.”
Markham, incoming head of sales and marketing for Delegated Authorities added: “I am extremely excited to be joining the AXA team at an important time in their growth plans. I have heard great things from broker partners about the quality of people, the market-leading proposition and their desire to grow with AXA. It is a business I have admired from afar for a number of years.”
Deepak Soni, director of Commercial Intermediary, said: “It is an exciting time in our business as we continue to profitably grow our delegated authority business. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to bring into the business such strong experience and leadership in Gary and Joel, and I know our brokers partners will be looking forward to working with the teams next year on new and existing opportunities.”
Arch Capital Group adds Kilcoyne & Watjen to Board of Directors
Bermuda based (re)insurer announced the addition of Moira Kilcoyne and Thomas Watjen to its Board of Directors, effective 1 January 2020.
Kilcoyne bring 3 decades of extensive technology and financial services experience to Arch Capital Group including serving as co-chief information officer of Morgan Stanley, where she sat on the firm’s management committee. Prior to becoming chief information officer, she held several senior technology roles within Morgan Stanley. Kilcoyne currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Quilter plc and Citric Systems.
Additionally, Watjen has extensive insurance industry experience having spent 20 years at Unum Group, 12 of which was as president and CEO of Unum and its predecessor, The Provident Companies.
Watjen is currently on the board of Prudential plc and previously held positions on the boards of SunTrust Bank and the Unum Group.
Chairman of Arch Capital Group’s Nominating and Governance Committee, Jack Bunce, said: “Tom’s perspective from having been CEO of a large, publicly traded insurance company and Moira’s experience leading a global IT group for a well-known financial services company enhance the overall capabilities of our board. Their insights can only help increase our effectiveness.”
John Pasquesi, chairman of the Board of Directors of Arch Capital Group, added: “We’re happy to be able to add two individuals of the calibre of Tom and Moira to our Board of Directors. They bring well-established credentials and we look forward to hearing their viewpoints and benefitting from their contributions for years to come.”
