It’s time once again for the weekly round up of job moves and senior level appointments.
CLOSE BROTHERS
Close Brothers Premium Finance (CBPF) has appointed experienced sales executive Christian McIntosh head of business development. Christian, who joins CBPF after over a decade in a senior sales role at NIG, will report to sales director Colin Wallace and will focus on growing the lender’s footprint among the top 50 personal and commercial lines brokers in the UK.
He commented: “This is a really exciting opportunity for me to help CBPF, a well-established, highly regarded business, and further deepen its relationships with new and existing broking partners.”
“I look forward to meeting new brokers to discuss with them how we can enhance their growth and add value to their businesses by making full use of our uniquely structured, market-leading financing options.”
QUOTECH
Quotech, the London-based firm which creates truly useful insurance technology for underwriters and brokers, is excited to announce that Nicholas St John, who has spent 35 years in the realm of technology-related customer services, is to join Quotech as its first Lead Business Development Officer.
St John began communicating the value of innovative technologies to the financial services sector at their inception. Since 2018, he has initiated key account wins specifically for insurance-focussed firms, including bolttech, Tigerlab, and Nuffield Health. Before turning to the insurance market, he spent decades building business for companies in the telecoms sector, supporting the diffusion of technological innovation for enterprises ranging from market leaders such as BT to start-ups including Shapecast.
SKYLINE
Skyline Partners Ltd., the parametric laboratory which works with underwriters, brokers, institutions, and affinity groups to develop solutions to a wide variety of insurability challenges, has engaged market veteran Christophe Neves to act as Skyline’s continental European representative. Based in Paris, Neves will focus on business development and client relations as Skyline extends its unique parametric services offering to customers in France and further afield.
A qualified actuary, Neves began his career at Axa and AIG Europe, then moved to Allianz Worldwide Partners, where he was Group Actuarial and Underwriting Services Director. He then turned to start-ups and insurTech as, in 2016, co-founder and CEO of digital platform Yakman; in 2018 as Chief Risk Officer at newly re-formed AIG Europe SA; and in 2020 as COO Risk and Capital of Wakam, a digital B2B2C insurer. This year he launched InsurtechStudio, which supports startups in the process of product development.
“It is terrific to have an individual of Christophe’s stature supporting Skyline’s continued growth,” said LaurentSabatié, Skyline Partners’ Co-Founder and Executive Director. “Parametric insurance products are new, and promise a radical change to the way businesses are insured. Christophe’s wide connections in the continental insurance sector, his deep understanding of insurance product development, and his broad leadership experience in the entrepreneurial environment of insurTech will be a huge asset for Skyline as we grow.”
CORVUS
Canopius Group, a leading global specialty (re)insurer, has announced the launch of its medical malpractice business with the appointment of Ashley Moulton as healthcare underwriter.
Ashley brings more than a decade of medical malpractice, life sciences and liability experience to her new role. She joins from Coverys Syndicate 1975 where she was responsible for the rapid growth of the life sciences binder book and the build of the US medical malpractice portfolio. Prior to this, she served as an underwriter in CFC Underwriting’s life sciences division. Ashley began her career at QBE in 2011, where she progressed to an international liability underwriter.
Canopius’ new medical malpractice business will underwrite a combination of international healthcare risks, with a focus on the US market. Ashley will be joined by further new appointments in due course with ambitious growth targets set for the new offering.
COVER GENIUS
Cover Genius, the insurtech for embedded protection, has announced it has sold over 25M policies, protecting more than 14M customers as the world’s largest digital companies move away from traditional insurers in favor of embedded solutions. To address its continued growth, the insurtech has expanded its executive team bringing on Kyle Keogh as Chief Business Officer, Americas, appointing Barney Pierce as interim Chief Business Officer, EMEA and APAC and expanding the role of Darcy Rittinger to Chief Risk Officer.
As Chief Business Officer, Americas, Kyle Keogh will oversee P&L, business operations and strategic planning across the North American and Latin American regions. Keogh joins Cover Genius after more than a decade in numerous leadership positions at Google working with clients to drive sales, improve their brand and maximize product launches. Before joining Google, Kyle was a Director of Business Transformation at IBM, and he started his career serving technology and telecom clients at McKinsey & Co. and JP Morgan.
Barney Pierce will hold the same responsibility across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific as interim Chief Business Officer, EMEA and APAC. In addition, Darcy Rittinger will expand her role on the executive team as Chief Risk Officer.
GALLAGHER RE
Daniel Knüsli has joined global reinsurance broker Gallagher Re’s Strategic & Financial Advisory team as client demand for expertise and insight across the risk and capital spectrum continues. Based in Zurich but with a global role, Daniel will split his time between London and other international insurance hubs as needed by clients.
Bringing more than 20 years’ experience across underwriting, analytics and client service, Daniel joins from Swiss Re where he spent 12 years and most recently served as Head of P&C Analytics, having begun his career as a casualty underwriter with Zurich Insurance Group.
Gallagher Re, the global reinsurance broker, can today announce the appointment of Jia Lou as CEO of Mainland China & Hong Kong, with effect from 1 June, and the further appointment of Alex Xia as Head of Gallagher Re in Beijing.
Well known and highly regarded in the Mainland and Hong Kong Market, Jia brings more than 15 years’ experience, strong client relationships and a proven track record of growing, leading and developing reinsurance broking teams and businesses. He will be responsible for Gallagher Re’s strategic planning and execution within the Mainland China and Hong Kong markets, and report to Mark Morley, Head of Asia Pacific for Gallagher Re.
Most recently Jia was Managing Director, Head of the South China region and Agriculture, at Guy Carpenter based in Hong Kong, having begun his career in the London. He moved back to the region in 2010 to lead the newly established China Agriculture reinsurance treaty practice.
LIBERTY SPECIALTY
Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM), part of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, announced the appointment of Dillon Matthews and Chris O’Brien to the multi-buyer trade credit (MBTC) UK and Europe team as Senior Underwriter and Underwriter, respectively. They are based in London and report to Jesse van Cleef, Head of MBTC UK and Europe, Financial Risk Solutions (FRS).
Matthews and O’Brien will combine business development responsibilities and supporting Van Cleef in growing the MBTC portfolio. LSM’s FRS division sees a broad range of opportunities in trade credit and the two hires are a statement of intent as the division continues to expand.
POP HOLDINGS
Pop Group Holdings (“POP”), a leading investor in M&A and specialist, data & technology-enabled insurance businesses, today announces the appointment of Sergei Korol as chief operations & finance officer.
Based in Singapore, Korol will be responsible for the delivery of best-in-class services, both internal to its operating companies and external to its ecosystem partners, and in support of POP’s purpose to build the leading global boutique M&A and specialty insurance group, enabled by data and technology. He will work closely with partners and associates across the Group’s operating brands including specialist M&A and financial lines MGA Fusion Specialty, and dedicated specialty InsurTech and M&A Tech platform io.insure, to drive profitability and revenue globally.
Korol brings with him over two decades of experience in the financial services and insurance industry. Most recently he was managing director at Grab Financial Group, where he led the creation of the company’s first financial segment team for its fintech division. Prior to that, he was CFO/COO at ACR Capital Holdings, where he was a key change agent in the company’s transformation, directing finance, IT and operational functions for the US$600 million premium pan-Asian group. In this role he also led the investor exit.
Inigo Limited (“Inigo”) is delighted to welcome James Creasy as the Head of Cyber Insurance, who will be leading the way in the building of this line of business. With his well-established background in Cyber and Technology insurance, James will be providing the strategic insights necessary to protect our clients in a complex Cyber environment.
James brings a wealth of experience in underwriting from Axis Capital, one of the largest providers of Cyber Insurance, where he became the Head of Cyber and Technology Underwriting Performance in 2015 and later led the London and Lloyds team. James will be bringing his extensive experience and strategic knowledge to develop and strengthen the Cyber Insurance book at Inigo. Cyber Insurance was identified as the only line of business Inigo is entering in 2023, it remains committed to being focused on a limited number of areas where it sees the greatest opportunity for individual risk underwriting and to outperform throughout the cycle.
ALTA SIGMA
Alta Signa Europe B.V. is pleased to announce it is strengthening further its presence in the Benelux region with the appointment of a D&O and FI Manager. Sytse Huidekoper joins the team in The Netherlands and will be responsible for D&O and FI with a particular focus on the regional brokers. Sytse brings great experience and knowledge in this market, with over a decade working in Financial Lines.
Most recently, Sytse spent four years working for AIG as Senior Underwriter Financial Institutions, with previous experience working for both Marsh and AON in Senior Broker roles, specifically on Financial Lines products. Sytse will be responsible for underwriting, including portfolio management, pricing and risk selection, as well as administration, planning and budgeting.
LUMERA
Lumera, a leading insurtech company dedicated to the digital transformation of the European Life and Pensions industry, has appointed Kerstin Hessius to its Board of Directors. Kerstin Hessius is the former CEO of the Third Swedish National Pension Fund (AP3), a position she held for 18 years until the end of 2022. She is now committed to strategic advisory and directorships. She has previously held several leading positions in financial markets, including that as deputy Governor of the Swedish Central Bank (Riksbanken) and CEO of the Stockholm Stock Exchange (OMX).
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