Round-up of the weekly news and developments from the global (re)insurance market with stories from Clyde & Co, RSA, Armour Group and more.
Clyde & Co appoints Matthew Kelsall as its next chief executive officer
Law company Clyde & Co announced the appointment of Matthew Kelsall as its new chief executive officer, succeeding Peter Hasson, who has served in the role since 2005.
Kelsall will take on the role of CEO from 1 November 2019, to coincide with Peter Hirst taking on the role of senior partner and will work with him and Hasson to ensure a smooth transition.
Kelsall has held executive positions in each of Clyde & Co’s main regions, including that of chief operating officer in the Middle East and North Africa, Asia Pacific and North America.
Hasson said: “I thank all those I’ve worked with at the firm over the past twenty years for their hard work, determination and support, which has enabled us to grow to become a truly global player in the legal market. Matthew is someone I’ve known and worked with for a very long time and is an outstanding choice as CEO. I have every confidence that together, Peter and Matthew can take our firm to the next level and I look forward to working with them during the leadership transition and beyond.”
Kelsall added: “I’m honoured to take on the role of CEO and I thank Peter and the Board for entrusting me with the responsibility. We have a huge opportunity to further strengthen the market-leading offerings we have built around the world and I look forward to working with the Senior Partner, the Management Board and our top class management team to achieve our ambitious goals.”
Hirst commented: “Matthew’s knowledge and understanding of the organisation, the global legal market and the day-to-day operations of a large and fast-growing global law firm, all make him the outstanding candidate for the CEO position.”
RSA Luxembourg name Rachel Conran as permanent CEO
RSA have appointed Rachel Conran as the new permanent chief operating officer of RSA Luxembourg after being the interim CEO since August 2018.
Conran will report to UK & International chief executive Scott Egan and will become a member of the UK&I executive committee.
Conran joined RSA earlier in the year as chief underwriting officer (CUO) for global risk solutions.
In her new role, she and her team will focus on European risks while the newly unified RSA Commercial Lines will focus on UK broker and London market risks.
Rachel’s permanent appointment follows the merger of RSA’s commercial risk solutions and global risk solutions businesses to create a single business unit, RSA Commercial Lines.
Rachel previously served as chief underwriting officer and CEO of SCOR’s Global Insurance Business; and CUO and global head of property of Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty.
Of the appointment, Egan said: “As we continue to shape our UK and International business, I’m delighted to have Rachel leading our European team on a permanent basis. Rachel brings strong leadership experience and underwriting skills, and, under her stewardship, we can go from strength to strength on the continent.”
Conran added: “I’m delighted to be taking on the role of RSA Luxembourg CEO on a permanent basis. I’ve had the chance to get the lie of the land and learn about the business over the past two months and I am relishing the challenge ahead.”
Armour Group names new group chief risk officer
Bermuda based Armour Group have announced the appointment of Yulia Bruskova as group chief risk officer, effective November 2019.
She will report to the group CEO and appropriate governance committees.
Bruskova is an experienced reinsurance and risk executive, a qualified actuary and Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, U.K. She has gained expertise from both the consulting and underwriting sides of the sector having most recently served as chief risk officer for Bermuda domiciled reinsurer F&G Re.
She also previously she led the Bermuda actuarial practice for Big 4 accountancy Deloitte as a director and has also previously served as group actuary at reinsurer RenaissanceRe.
Brad Huntington, Armour chairman and chief executive officer, stated: “We are delighted that Yulia has agreed to join Armour as Group CRO. She brings a wide range of technical and practical experience and knowledge to our group.”
Bruskova added: “I am excited to join Armour, particularly in light of the company’s significant growth and development opportunities. Armour has a best-in-class team, and I look forward to working with the team to further the company’s strategic objectives as part of it.”
AIG announces double appointment to specialty business
American International Group, Inc (AIG) announced the appointment of Steve Eccles as its global head of aerospace and James Langdon joins as UK head of energy and constructions within its global specialty business.
Eccles will be based in London and will be responsible for driving business strategy for global Aerospace and supporting underwriting standards across the product line. He joins AIG from Argo where he most recently served as chief underwriting officer international and active underwriter for ArgoGlobal Syndicate 1200 at Lloyd’s.
Also based in London, Langdon will be responsible for developing and delivering AIG’s UK strategy with the global Energy strategy as well as driving underwriting performance.
He will take up his new role in April 2020, reporting to Peter Bilsby, global head of specialty.
He joins from Chubb where he spent more than 16 years and most recently held the title of global head of upstream energy. Langdon’s new role will be effective from December 2019, reporting to Gordon Browne, global head of energy & construction.
Bilsby said: “As we continue to develop the leadership team of our global specialty business and position ourselves for future growth, I’m pleased to appoint Steve and James to their respective roles. Our clients and partners will benefit enormously from the wealth of experience they bring to AIG, as we build a market leading global specialty business.”
James Windsor joins Aviva as chief financial officer
Aviva have named Jason Windsor as chief financial officer (CFO) and executive director of the company having served as interim CFO since July this year. The appointment is effective from 26 September 2019.
Windsor joined Aviva in 2010 and has extensive experience of the group, including as chief capital and investments officer as well as a member of the Aviva Leadership Team.
Prior to this, Windsor spent 15 years at Morgan Stanley, latterly as managing director in the Financial Institutions Group, focusing on corporate finance, M&A, and regulatory capital.
Maurice Tulloch, chief executive officer at Aviva said: “Jason is exceptionally well qualified to be our CFO. He has a proven track record as CFO of our UK business and a deep understanding of Aviva and the markets we operate in. Jason is a very strong addition to the Board and will bring a strong analytical and commercial perspective.”
Markel announces new leadership appointments for claims team
Specialist insurer Markel International has announced three claims leadership appointments across its wholesale and national markets businesses.
Chris O’Shea has been appointed as claims director for wholesale, Richard Napoli whose responsibilities will be expanded to include oversight of Canada and Europe, with the new title of claims and legal services director for national markets and Sarah Wilcox who will has been named as operations director for claims.
O’Shea has been with the company since 2016 and has 19 years of technical claims handling experience in the London Market.
Napoli has served at Markel for nine years and was recently promoted to head up both the fee-paying legal team and claims for national markets, UK.
Additionally, Sarah Wilcox brings 30 years of experience in the insurance industry with the last 16 being at Markel. She previously led the underwriting support and change management before her move to claims to manage the volume claims team.
William Stovin, president of Markel International, said: “As both the wholesale and national markets sides of the business go from strength to strength, it has become increasingly apparent that we need to be more strategic in the claims support we provide for them. This new leadership team means that the different areas of the business will have more specialised management, tailored to suit the specific needs.
Chris, Richard and Sarah are all renowned, both internally and externally, for their drive, ambition and hard work in moving the Markel claims service forward and so were the perfect candidates to make up this new team. We’ve no doubt that they’ll work together brilliantly, to ensure synergy across our claims teams but also the specialist focus required for each area.”