It’s time for the latest Job Moves round up, so here are the latest industry appointments;
GENERALI GLOBAL
Generali Global Corporate & Commercial (GC&C) announces the appointment of Christian Kanu as new CEO effective from 30th January 2023.
Former Tokio Marine Europe CEO, Kanu has worked in the insurance industry for more than 20 years at the highest international level, holding senior management positions in multiple countries and markets.
Kanu will oversee the implementation of the Generali Corporate & Commercial business across all the markets in which GC&C operates, in line with the priorities of the Group strategic plan “Lifetime Partner 24: Driving Growth”.
Commenting on the appointment, Jean-Laurent Granier, Country Manager France, Europ Assistance & Global Business Lines, stated: “I am very happy to welcome Christian Kanu, a leader with a sound and extensive international experience in the insurance sector. His cross-cultural and
multinational background perfectly fits with the strong international nature of GC&C. I am sure that under his leadership, GC&C will continue to have an even more relevant role in the corporate market. I would like to thank Manlio Lostuzzi for his work and his excellent performance in managing GC&C in these years. I wish him every success in the next chapter of his career in Generali.”
THE EXETER
Protection and health provider The Exeter has announced the appointment of Claire Hird as its new Customer Service Director*. Hird joined at the start of the new year and will oversee the underwriting, claims, and customer service functions.
Before joining The Exeter, Hird distinguished herself as the Operations Director at Legal & General, where she was responsible for all customer-facing activity across the company’s insurance business. Hird initially joined Legal & General in 2010 as Head of Sales and Service.
As Customer Service Director, Hird will be joined at The Exeter by two further appointments; Sharon Smith joins as Head of Business Readiness, with Tim Weaver joining as Head of Operational Planning & Workflow. These roles will be key in supporting The Exeter over the coming months as the mutual continues to invest in improvements to its provision of service to both members and intermediaries.
OCTANE LONDON
Santina Thomas has been appointed to the role of Head of Octane London Market, the London Markets division of Prestige Underwriting.
Founded in 2014, Octane London Market Limited is aimed primarily at providing the London Motor wholesale market with a solution for non-standard motor risks which may prove difficult to place in the conventional market.
Santina’s career in the Insurance industry began in 2006 as an Assistant Motor Underwriter on the Lloyds wholesale team at AIG. Santina quickly progressed through the organisation during the course of her 16-year term, earning a series of promotions to a range of roles including Underwriter, Senior Underwriter and onto taking on the role of Lead on the wholesale motor account from 2015 onwards.
Following the announcement of her recent appointment, Santina noted:
“I am very much looking forward to a new challenge, working alongside the hugely experienced, respected and diligent team at Octane London Market and the wider Prestige Underwriting business. One of my key strategic goals is to continue to improve and grow an already profitable book of business, specialising in traditional underwriting methods that provide solutions to the non-standard sector of the wholesale market. 2023 is going to be a very exciting time for Octane London Market and together with the team, we are committed to achieving ambitious targets for growth and market expansion.”
QUESTGATES
Specialist loss adjuster, QuestGates, today announces the appointment of Chris Edwards to the newly created role of Motor Development Director. Chris is a well-respected figure in the insurance and financial services sector. His most recent role was Chief Operations Officer and Business Development Manager for Digilog. Prior to that, he spent 17 years working for Connexus Group as Business Operations Manager, Head of Claims.
Working alongside QuestGates Divisional Director, Gary Woodhall, who has operational responsibility for our motor investigation services, Chris will focus on identifying new business opportunities as part of his role and will work with the wider motor and third-party services teams, to further enhance the QuestGates proposition and support the ongoing development of other motor related services.
ALLIANZ COMMERCIAL
Allianz Commercial has appointed Graham Stait to the position of regional manager, Midlands and South West, Commercial Regions, effective 1 February.
In his new role, Graham will be responsible for leading the region, working with the branch trading operations, strengthening ties with local brokers and customers and driving new opportunities for the Midlands and South West team.
In his most recent position as Allianz’s head of claims operations and a member of the Allianz Claims Management Committee, Graham led the development of Allianz Claims’ operational strategy and was responsible for overseeing and delivering the claims service proposition. Since joining Allianz in 2008, Graham has held a variety of leadership roles across the organisation, including head of supply & experts and claims proposition and change manager.
INVER RE
Inver Re announces the appointment of Kurt Cripps as Global Head of Parametric. Kurt will be responsible for leading parametric solutions in the newly created role at Inver Re, working across the broader $13 billion premium Ardonagh Group. Kurt brings nearly 20 years industry experience to the role, with over a decade focused on alternative risk transfer.
He was previously Managing Director and Global Head of Weather at Aon Reinsurance Solutions, having joined Aon Benfield in 2009. His insurance career began as a broker at HSBC Reinsurance Brokers.
PREQIN
Preqin, the essential data and insights company, has appointed Nosheen Amir-Ebrahimi as the firm’s first Chief Commercial Officer. Nosheen will oversee and drive Preqin’s commercial strategy, with a clear focus on designing best-in-class services and products to help the firm’s clients succeed in the ever-evolving alternative assets industry.
Nosheen – who has almost twenty years of experience – previously worked at Goldman Sachs, IHS Markit, and most recently as Head of Strategy, M&A and Partnerships, at S&P Global Sustainable1. Nosheen’s experience in leading IHS Markit’s derivatives data & valuations business, where she oversaw significant revenue growth and margin expansion through deep client engagement, organic investments, and strategic acquisitions, will be incredibly valuable for her new role at Preqin. Nosheen’s recent experience in leading the ESG strategy for S&P Global will also be beneficial when further developing Preqin’s ESG Solutions, the only product suite to provide private market participants with a 360-degree view of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risk, impact and opportunity.
NEXUS UNDERWRITING
Leading independent specialty Managing General Agent, Nexus Underwriting (“Nexus”), announced today the appointment of Farah Rostamzad as Head of Trade Credit in its French office located in Paris. Originally trained in insurance law, Farah joined HSBC Insurance in 2015 as Wealth Expert (IFA Services) and was then employed at Coface Global Solutions as an Account Manager for four years before becoming Business Leader for Coface Premium Services for eighteen months.
MARSH
Marsh, the world’s leading insurance broker and risk advisor, has announced the appointment of Robert Perry as UK CEO, Credit Specialties, Marsh Specialty, in addition to his current role as Global Political Risk & Structured Credit Leader, effective immediately. Mr. Perry is based in London and will report to Nick Robson, Global Leader, Credit Specialties, Marsh Specialty, and Dominic Samengo-Turner, UK CEO, Marsh Specialty.
With over 850 colleagues in more than 55 countries, the Credit Specialties team brings together the key credit risk transfer and product disciplines of political risk and structured credit insurance, trade credit insurance, and surety.
SWISS RE
Swiss Re announces the appointment of Velina Peneva as Group Chief Investment Officer and member of the Group Executive Committee, effective 1 April 2023. She will succeed Guido Fürer following his retirement after 25 successful years at Swiss Re.
Group Chief Executive Officer Christian Mumenthaler said: “We’re pleased that with Velina Peneva, we’ve been able to find a capable internal candidate to lead our Asset Management unit forward. Velina has a very strong track record both within and outside Swiss Re. She brings a combination of deep financial market expertise, strategic and investment skills, proven leadership capabilities and a well-established industry network.”
Velina Peneva is currently Co-Head Client Solutions & Analytics in Swiss Re’s Asset Management. Previously, she headed Swiss Re’s private equity investment mandate. Before joining Swiss Re in 2017, Velina Peneva worked for Bain & Company in the US, Australia and Switzerland, most recently as a Partner and leader for the private equity and institutional investor practices in Zurich.
GALLAGHER
Gallagher has appointed Louise Piper as Head of Strategic Account Management. Louise joins Gallagher with a wealth of industry experience gained at both global brokers and insurers.
Louise most recently was International Brokers Director at Aviva where she was responsible for managing all large and consolidator broker relationships for the insurer and leading its distribution and sales team to grow the business. Prior to this, she worked at AXA XL as Head of Client and Distribution Management. She has also held leadership roles at WTW as Head of UK Retail Broking, and Marsh as Head of National Corporate Placement.
In her new role, Louise will be responsible for the management of Gallagher’s offering to large multinational clients and she will work alongside the specialist broking teams in Gallagher’s UK Retail and Speciality divisions to coordinate and design market-leading solutions for clients. She will report to Specialty CEO, Jonathan Turner.
TL DALLAS
Independent insurance broking and risk management specialist, TL Dallas, is expanding after appointing two insurance brokers that specialise in the health and care industry. Account executives, Rico Young and James Bright (pictured above) have joined TL Dallas from Marsh Commercial. They have almost 25 years’ combined industry experience and will be spearheading the firm’s health and care specialism.
Rico said: “After completing my business and economic degree, I started my career in general commercial insurance at SME Insurance Services Limited, before being headhunted by Bluefin Insurance, who were later acquired by Marsh Commercial.”
Polly Staveley, managing director at TL Dallas, said: “‘James and Rico are professional, technical brokers who have been working in the health and care sector for over 20 years. They understand the challenges faced by the sector and have access to specialist insurers that cover a wide range of insurance options for our clients.”
GATELEY SMITHERS PURSLOW
Gateley Smithers Purslow, the multi-disciplinary surveying, engineering and architecture practice arm of legal and professional services group, Gateley, has announced an expansion of its Newcastle engineering team with two new appointments.
The Newcastle team is headed up by regional manager Mark Campbell MEng CEng MICE, a highly experienced structural engineer who is chartered and a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (MICE) and has been with Gateley Smithers Purslow for two years. The team specialises in structural engineering design and structural defect diagnosis and provides its services to a range of private, public and commercial clients in addition to servicing the property insurance claims market Gateley Smithers Purslow is widely renowned for.
Newcastle born, bred and educated Mark said: “Much of our insurance work involves site visits and surveys and dealing with structural emergencies such as storm damage, something we’ve experienced a lot of in the last few years here in the North East.
“The quality of our work and client support has massively boosted our reputation, which I am pleased to say has led to a significant increase in demand for our services across all sectors and is the reason we have needed to extend our team with these two new appointments and are looking to expand further in 2023.”
KYND
LIBERTY SPECIALTY
Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM), part of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, announced the promotion of Huw Owen to the role of Global Head of Financial Risk Solutions (FRS), effective immediately. Owen reports to Rachel Conran, Chief Underwriting Officer, and is based in London.
Owen is responsible for the continued strategic development of the global FRS team. He will work closely with clients and brokers to deliver LSM’s leading, tailor-made underwriting solutions to global corporate and financial institutions. He takes over from Peter Sprent, who has served at LSM for 11 years and is leaving to pursue personal interests. Owen will work closely with Peter to ensure a smooth transition before his departure in late March.
Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM) has also announced the promotion of Melanie O’Neill to the role of Chief Underwriting Officer (London). She is based in London and takes up the role with immediate effect.
In her new role, O’Neill be responsible for setting and delivering the underwriting strategy and annual underwriting plan for LSM’s London-based Commercial and Specialty business. Previously Chief Underwriting Officer, Commercial, she assumes responsibility for the Specialty business from Mike Gosselin, who was recently appointed Global Leader, Energy & Transition Risk within Liberty Mutual’s Global Risk Solutions division. In her new role, O’Neill will report to LSM Chief Underwriting Officer Rachel Conran.
WORLD TRAVEL PROTECTION
Kent Hendricks has been appointed the new EMEA Business Development Director for World Travel Protection, a leading travel risk management company owned by Zurich Insurance Group. He is responsible for leading the strategic growth of World Travel Protection in EMEA and raising awareness of its full-service travel risk management solution to the travelling business community.
Mr Hendricks has over 20+ years’ international experience in the insurance and financial services industries across EMEA, as well as North and Latin America. He has led the development of products, digitalization, distribution channels and strategies for many multinational corporations including GE Capital, RSA, CHUBB, Kuehne + Nagel, MDS Group. He also has extensive knowledge related to Risk Management (ERM), Strategic Planning, Change Management and Business Transformation.
SQUARED FINANCIAL
Leading global brokerage firm SquaredFinancial announces the appointment of Nour Hammoury as its Chief Market Analyst. Nour’s addition to the team emphasizes the company’s commitment to offering investors all over the world informed trading, including spot-on information, market analysis, and live market news, as well as promoting healthy trading.
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