The latest senior hires and industry job moves;
BGLi
BGL Insurance (BGLi), a leading digital distributor of insurance and household financial services, has announced the appointment of a Managing Director of Distribution, a new position within the business. Laura Mullaney, formally Customer Director for BGLi, has been promoted into the new role and will now lead on the growth and distribution agenda for the business across its own brands and strategic partnerships. Laura will also join the BGLi executive committee, reporting to CEO, Peter Thompson. The news follows the recent successful acquisition of BGLi by the Markerstudy Group and a strong year of profit growth for the business.
Laura joined BGLi from Barclays 10 years ago, initially leading on the digital development of the insurance partnerships division and since that time, has led the broader digital agenda, transforming customer propositions and helping BGLi to achieve market stand-out in the space. As part of her new role, Laura will lead on strategy for BGLi’s own brands, which includes Budget Insurance, Dial Direct and Jaunt, as well as affinity partners. In addition, Laura will also oversee an exciting new business pipeline, exploring opportunities for strategic fit partners as well as new customer propositions.
CANOPIUS
Canopius Group, a leading global specialty (re)insurer, announces the appointment of Geoffrey Saville as Head of Catastrophe Research, effective 22nd August 2022.
Geoffrey will enhance Canopius Group’s science-led understanding and approach to climate related risk. He will be based in London and report to Paul Wilkinson, Head of Risk Strategy & Analytics.
With a background in weather forecasting from more than a decade of experience working for the Met Office and Bermuda Weather Service, Geoffrey brings expertise in both meteorology and climate science applications to Canopius. He joins from WTW, where he held the role of Head of Weather and Climate Risks Research, playing a key role in the development of the broker’s global research strategy and risk modelling tools, since joining in 2013. Prior to this, Geoffrey held a number of positions within the Met Office, including Specialist Forecaster within the Flood Forecasting Centre, and as a Business Consultant working primarily with the insurance and capital markets sector.
LIBERTY SPECIALTY MARKETS
Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM), part of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, has announced the promotion of Lewis Edwards to the newly created role of Head of Delegated Authority Practice (DAP). Edwards reports to Mike Gosselin, Chief Underwriting Officer – Specialty and Melanie O’Neill, Chief Underwriting Officer – Commercial. He will remain based in London.
The DAP is a new division created for LSM’s delegated authority insurance business written in London. It brings together large coverholders, delegated authority underwriting, governance and management into a single centre of excellence.
Edwards is responsible for leading the development of LSM’s underwriting offering within several lines: Specialty Binders – Property, Casualty and EIL, Legal Indemnities, and large coverholders. The heads of these lines will report directly to Edwards. The DAP will provide additional service, oversight, and support to delegated authority business embedded in other classes. Edwards remains responsible for LSM’s Accident & Health and Contingency portfolios.
ALLIANZ
Allianz Holdings has appointed Alison Rayner to the newly created position of chief compliance and corporate affairs officer, effective from February 2023.
In this role, Alison will be responsible for setting a clear strategy for the organisation in terms of compliance and conduct relating to customer, clients, reputation, assets and the interests of stakeholders, as well as corporate and regulatory affairs.
Alison joins Allianz from Aviva where she is currently group compliance and financial crime risk director. Prior to this, Alison has also worked at RSA, BGL and Direct Line Group and is highly experienced in all aspects of compliance.
In her new role, Alison will report to Colm Holmes, CEO, Allianz Holdings, who comments: “I’m delighted to be welcoming Alison to this new position. The appointment of a chief compliance and corporate affairs officer continues Allianz’s investment in our second line of defence and builds on the great work already undertaken and ongoing in our Compliance team. Alison has an impressive track record and strong reputation in our market and is an extremely valuable addition to our Executive Committee.”
BMS GROUP
BMS Group (“BMS”), the independent specialist (re)insurance broker, announces the appointment of Germán Torres-Ortíz as managing director and head of Caribbean facultative business for BMS Re Latin America and Caribbean (LAC), effective August 29th 2022. Based in Miami, he will report to Aidan Pope, CEO and executive chairman for LAC at BMS Re.
Torres-Ortíz will focus on expanding BMS Re’s facultative presence in the Caribbean region. He joins BMS Re from his most recent role as a senior vice president at Carpenter Marsh Fac Re Latin America. Prior to this, he spent seven years with Assurant in a leadership role, developing new products and conducting feasibility studies across multiple markets in the region. Torres-Ortíz also held several senior roles at AIG, including spending four years in Chile as commercial lines director, spearheading significant annual growth and profitability.
MAGNOLIA GROVE
Magnolia Grove Insurance Services (“Magnolia Grove”), the Beat Capital backed environmental specialty MGA, today announces the appointment of three senior hires, following its launch in early August.
Richard Edwards joins Magnolia Grove as chief underwriting officer, having previously held the role of senior underwriter, environmental, at Dual North America, where he focused on managing the Southwest region. Prior to his time at Dual, he worked for Westchester Environmental as a senior underwriter.
Edwards will work alongside Kevin Fussell, who assumes the role of vice president. Fussell joins Magnolia Grove from DUAL Commercial LLC where, since 2019, he held the role of senior environmental underwriter. He also spent time building his career at Colony Environmental and Westchester Environmental.
Joliana Hodges also joins the team as senior underwriter from Dual North America, having spent close to four years building her experience in the environmental underwriting field.
Jointly, Edwards, Fussell and Hodges bring more than 20 years of experience which, combined with a passion for environmental insurance, will serve to further strengthen Magnolia Grove’s proposition. The team will assume their roles with immediate effect and will report to Justin Crawford, president and CEO.
SWISS RE CANADA
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has appointed Andrea Douglass as Senior Vice President, Customer Management Canada effective August 29th. Douglass will be responsible for strategic relationships with large corporate customers across Canada. Based in Toronto, she succeeds Sarah Kestle who will retire in September.
“I am excited to have someone with Andrea’s experience and calibre joining our team,” said Adrian Hall, CEO Canada, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. “Her strong track record of customer focus, creativity and strategic leadership will boost our drive to provide customer-centric solutions and deliver an exceptional customer experience to advance corporate insurance together.”
Douglass has held numerous leadership positions of increasing responsibility within the customer and distribution space at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty and RSA Insurance. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Queen’s University and a FCIP designation.
ZURICH
Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) has appointed Stephen Moss as Group Head of Financial Lines and Cyber, and Andreas Schmitt as Group Cyber Underwriting Manager. Both appointments to the Group Underwriting function will be effective as of September 1, 2022.
Hayley Robinson, Group Chief Underwriting Officer, said: “The current risk landscape is very diverse and complex, and businesses face challenges on all fronts. In these times, it is more important than ever that we take the lead and provide our customers with best-in-class solutions and advice while we remain focused on maintaining our underwriting discipline. I am therefore very pleased to welcome Stephen and Andreas, two highly experienced and accomplished industry professionals, to the Group Underwriting team. I have every confidence that they will be great assets to the team and support us in further enhancing underwriting services for our customers.”
Mr. Moss joined Zurich in 2017 as Head of Specialties, UK, and has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. As Group Head of Financial Lines and Cyber he will be responsible for Professional Indemnity, D&O, Financial Institutions, Mergers & Acquisitions, Cyber and Legal Indemnities. Throughout his career, Mr. Moss has held various senior underwriting and broking roles, including Casualty Portfolio Underwriting Director, and Underwriting Director for Financial Risks. Mr. Moss will report to Ms. Robinson and continue to be based in the UK.
Mr. Schmitt joins Zurich from Munich Re where he successfully built strong cyber capabilities as their Head of Cyber, Asia. In his new role, he will work closely with Zurich’s country offices worldwide to ensure a consistent and enhanced cyber underwriting approach and provide product expertise and counsel to optimize underwriting performance. Mr. Schmitt has spent his entire career in insurance and reinsurance and brings more than 30 years of underwriting experience to the role, having worked and led diverse teams on all continents. He will report to Mr. Moss and be based in Switzerland.
Be the first to comment