US Market: Ascot Group Announces Four Key Hires

The word from Ascot Group in the USA;

Ascot Group announces it will strengthen its U.S. Excess Casualty team with four key leadership appointments this month: Ashley Hofler Hunley joins as Vice President, Southeast; Erin Osborne joins as Vice President, Northeast; Shawna Hadjipateras joins as Vice President, West; and Brian DelTufo joins as Vice President, Construction Product Lead.

“The Ascot team is wholly committed to helping our clients navigate the ever-changing risks found in the Excess Casualty market. Ashley, Erin, Shawna, and Brian all join us with significant regional experience, a deep understanding of the market, and long-established relationships in the space. They will make a certain and immediate impact as we grow our Excess Casualty book across the U.S.,” said Jeff Canfield, Ascot U.S. Head of Casualty.

Matt Kramer, Ascot U.S. Chief Executive Officer, added, “Attracting top-tier underwriting and leadership talent with a unique understanding of the specialized space they are operating in remains a top priority for Ascot. These four new appointments, and their significant Excess Casualty experience, will be critical to our relentless pursuit of client-centric underwriting in this market.”

The quartet of new Excess Casualty team members bring many decades of collective experience:

• Hunley, based in Charlotte, joins Ascot from Great American Professional Insurance Services, where she provided marketing and underwriting analysis for commercial excess insurance to large companies. She was previously responsible for Chartis Inc.’s (AIG) New York Region Excess Casualty Construction book.
• Osborne, based in New York, most recently spent time as Managing Director for Excess Casualty at Nationwide, where she helped to develop and grow the organization’s retail Excess Casualty book. Prior to Nationwide, Osborne managed the National Excess Casualty portfolio at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions.
• Hadjipateras, based in San Francisco, most recently worked as an Assistant Vice President at Chubb, responsible for Excess Casualty underwriting for companies that generate $1B or more in annual revenues.
• DelTufo, based in Boston, joins Ascot from Liberty Mutual Insurance, where he was responsible for new and renewal casualty business for national construction accounts. Prior to his underwriting career, DelTufo spent nearly a decade in risk control, safety management and safety engineering, providing him a unique perspective and deep understanding of the construction risk space.