John Walsh’s Post

Ana Robic and Ben Rockwell Appointed Senior Vice President, Chubb Group; Both executives will retain their current responsibilities and continue to report to Juan Luis Ortega, Executive Vice President, Chubb Group and President, North America Insurance, and Scott Meyer, Senior Vice President, Chubb Group and Chief Operating Officer, North America #Insurance. Jason Ranucci named Head of North America Lower Middle Market. Jeff Updyke appointed EVP, North America Commercial Insurance & Digital Distribution. Updyke will report to Christopher Maleno, Senior Vice President, Chubb Group and Vice Chairman, North America Insurance. In addition, John DePeters, Senior Vice President, Underwriting & Portfolio Management, Small Commercial, has been appointed Chief Underwriting Officer, Small Commercial. DePeters will be responsible for underwriting and portfolio management for North America Small Commercial Insurance. He will report to Ranucci and Robert Poliseno, Division President of North America Small Commercial Insurance and President of North America Digital. https://lnkd.in/eYAJKrae

Chubb Appoints Dave Lupica Vice President, Chubb Group and President of Westchester, A Chubb Company, Company's Wholesale E&S Business in North America. Lupica succeeds Scott Mayer, who was recently promoted to Senior Vice President, Chubb Group and Chief Operating Officer, North America Insurance. He will report to Meyer and Juan Luis Ortega, Executive Vice President, Chubb Group and President, North America Insurance. "It is a pleasure and honor to announce that Dave Lupica will lead Chubb's wholesale E&S operations in North America," said Ortega. "Westchester is a market leader that writes $4 billion in premiums annually, and Dave is a highly regarded executive, well known in the E&S business. Dave has truly earned this recognition and significant opportunity." "I have had the privilege to work closely with Dave for the past four years," said Meyer. "He is a skilled operator and understands the E&S business inside and out. I look forward to Dave taking the reins of this business and bringing it to even greater levels of success." https://lnkd.in/ekqB5kKw

Acrisure Re Partners With Specialty Reinsurance Brokers for facultative Stock Throughput and Property business, effective immediately. Headquartered in #PanamaCity and led by Luis Medina, Specialty Re has more than 11 years of experience delivering solutions for a range of risks across property, engineering and energy, marine, and financial lines business. The partnership highlights further ambitions of Acrisure Re’s global facultative offering led by Ghassan Mansour, whilst giving Specialty Re access to the global reinsurance markets, significant broking capabilities spanning marine and non-marine lines and access to the full suite of Acrisure Re’s analytical tools and solutions. Ghassan Mansour, head of Facultative Reinsurance at Acrisure Re, said: “Latin America remains an attractive and ever-expanding marketplace with a substantial demand for facultative solutions. This partnership with Specialty Re, led by my colleague Jennifer D'Arcy, Bsc (hons), FCII (EVP Marine Fac), underscores our dedication to broadening our presence and competencies by teaming up with a highly reputable and prominent broker. We are delighted to be working with Luis and his team and am excited to see our partnership grow.” Luis Medina, CEO of Specialty Re, added: "We greatly appreciate the talent pool and expertise of Acrisure Re’s facultative team, their capabilities for handling complex structured facultative placements, and their access to global markets, all of which will undoubtedly benefit us. It's a source of great excitement to collaborate with the reinsurance division of the world's fastest-growing independent broker. We're delighted to formalize our fruitful working relationship." https://lnkd.in/eYpNXsyB

Aon Names Marguerita Silitonga As President Director Of Its #Reinsurance Solutions In #Indonesia. Based in #Jakarta, Silitonga reports to Musa Adlan, executive director and head of Reinsurance Solutions in South East Asia. In her new role, Silitonga will be responsible for developing and executing strategy, driving growth and managing all operations for Aon's Reinsurance Solutions in Indonesia. Silitonga served previously as a senior relationship manager and treaty broker for a number of key clients at Aon, gaining additional business operations responsibility. She joined Aon from MSIG Indonesia in 2020, after more than 12 years in reinsurance strategy optimization. Commenting on the appointment, Adlan said: “During her time at Aon, Marguerita has demonstrated effective leadership and a deep understanding of Indonesia broking operations. She has been critical to our recent successes, and her contributions have played a major part in executing our growth strategies and helping to shape better business decisions for clients. I wish her well in her new role.” https://lnkd.in/eZWtzBat

One Acre Fund and Global Parametrics partner to provide financial relief for smallholder farmers in #Zambia and #Malawi. Together, One Acre Fund and Global Parametrics developed a water-balance index to calculate payouts, benefitting from data collected and verified by One Acre Fund from individual farmers. The index measures the balance between rainfall and evapotranspiration over a specific period, yielding a measure of availability of water for crops. The index relies on weather data from independent third parties. This season, payouts for droughts caused by the #ElNiño phenomenon have already been issued, benefiting approximately 77,600 smallholder farmers in Zambia and Malawi with payments exceeding MWK 1.41 billion (around USD 812,600). Risk capacity for One Acre Fund’s smallholder loan portfolio is provided by the Natural-Disaster Fund (NDF), managed by Global Parametrics. The NDF, a public-private partnership funded by UK and German governmental entities, is mandated to provide risk capacity for parametric solutions that enhance climate and natural catastrophe resilience for poor and vulnerable communities. The NDF shares risks with Hannover Re. “Putting farmers first is embedded in everything we do at One Acre Fund. With El Niño looming, we worked to find ways to cushion farmers from the devastating effects of drought on their crops, which is their main source of livelihood,” said Luke Viljoen, One Acre Fund Zambia’s Country Director. “Thanks to the index-based solution, farmers do not need to present proof of loss or undergo lengthy damage assessments. If the water balance index falls below a specified threshold, payouts are triggered,” said Mark Rueegg, CEO of CelsiusPro Group. https://lnkd.in/eEXDJ2dF

#ATT says data from 109 million US customer accounts illegally downloaded #AT&T said the compromised data includes files containing AT&T records of calls and texts of nearly all of AT&T's cellular and AT&T's landline customers interacting with those cellular numbers between May and October 2022. The data does not contain the content of calls or texts or personal information such as social security numbers.#cyber https://lnkd.in/e3UNAyik

Specialist Risk Group has announced that it has acquired the ongoing business of CARRIAGEHOUSE (UK) LIMITED. Established over 30-years ago, Carriagehouse supports the equestrian industry with a range of specialist products including Horse, Horsebox, Carriage and Harness, Carriage Driver, and Donkey insurance.The Carriagehouse offering neatly complements SRG’s existing equestrian business, KBIS, who joined forces with SRG in January 2021. SRG’s investment in Carriagehouse is a further demonstration of its commitment to investing in specialisms. Lee Anderson , SRG Group Deputy CEO, said: “This is a great deal for SRG and reinforces our commitment to investing in specialist sectors across the UK and internationally. KBIS are leaders in the equestrian industry and the addition of the Carriagehouse book will enable them to support a more diverse client base within this specialist sector.” Fiona Gordon-Clake, Carriagehouse Director, said: “I am looking forward to further supporting our Carriagehouse clients as they move over to KBIS. The synergy between our teams and the comprehensive range of equestrian insurance products that KBIS offers will ensure our clients continue to receive the high level of service and specialist coverage they have come to expect.” https://lnkd.in/ehf59Yfu

U.S. MGA Market Grows Swiftly - Exceeds $102 billion in Premium in 2023. In 2023, premium produced by Managing General Agents continued to grow more rapidly than the property casualty market overall, continuing the significant growth trend experienced over the last two years. The estimated MGA premium written by U.S. #insurance companies grew by 13%, while total property-casualty premium grew at 10%. Conning estimates that the total U.S. MGA market, including business written for the account of Lloyd’s syndicates, exceeded $102 billion in direct premiums written in 2023. “MGAs’ success hinges on a combination of talent, technology, capital and market conditions. In 2023, these factors converged, driving sustained growth and resilience, and paving the way for further sector expansion,” said Lauryn Kothavale, a Vice President for Insurance Research at Conning. By Conning’s calculation, fronting companies accounted for more than $14 billion in premium written by MGAs in 2023, an increase of 27% over the previous year. Approximately 17% of total MGA premium is now supported by fronting companies, a share that has more than tripled since 2020. Growth within the Lloyd's market – historically, and still today, the largest single source of capacity for U.S. MGAs – did not experience substantial growth and experienced stagnation. Lloyd’s syndicates grew their U.S. binder business by just 1% to $7.5 billion in 2023. WSIA (Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association) Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) https://lnkd.in/e2RCbJ32

Heffernan Insurance Brokers has acquired Costello Insurance Assoc formally adding aviation expertise to its suite of services. Located in Tempe, #Arizona, Costello joined as Heffernan's aviation specialty practice effective May 1, 2024, and will report into Heffernan's Phoenix branch office. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Pat Costello is a pilot and flight instructor with nearly 4,000 hours and founded the agency in 1991. Costello aids clients throughout the United States in obtaining coverage for corporate and pleasure aircraft, including jets, gliders, and drones, as well as operations such as flying clubs, flight schools, and airports. Pat Costello and his team of five employees will continue to service their new and existing customers while providing a solution to cross sell existing Heffernan aviation clients. "Costello Insurance Associates joined Heffernan Insurance Brokers with the understanding we could complement each other. Every indication is that will be the case and the clients will benefit. What stands out is how helpful and nice the people at Heffernan are. The Costello staff and I feel truly fortunate to become a part of the family," said Pat Costello, now Vice President of Heffernan Insurance Brokers. "We're pleased to expand our Phoenix metropolitan area footprint with the addition of Costello Insurance Associates. Costello's aviation expertise is a welcome addition to our existing specialty practices. The knowledge and experience of Pat and his team are well respected in the industry, and we're excited to have them onboard," said Mike Heffernan , President and CEO of Heffernan Insurance Brokers. https://lnkd.in/efPAyTKt

Beazley appoints Lorena Segovia Chacón as Country Manager for Southern Europe. Segovia assumes the role with immediate effect and will also retain her current position at Beazley as Head of Financial Lines for Continental Europe. Segovia brings extensive experience to the role, having led Beazley’s Financial Lines team in Continental Europe for seven years while also serving as Head of Beazley’s Spanish office. During this time, she has strengthened the company's engagement strategies in #Spain, #Italy and #Portugal, building a strong network of broker partners and clients. Segovia was also instrumental in the launch of Beazley’s operations in Spain in 2017. Prior to joining the business, Segovia held the role of Financial Lines Underwriter at Tokio Marine HCC. In her new position, Segovia will serve as a key contact for Beazley’s stakeholders in Southern Europe and will work closely with the underwriting, distribution, marketing and claims functions. In addition, the Barcelona office will continue to act as an underwriting hub for those countries in Europe where Beazley does not have a physical office. Fred Kleiterp, Managing Director Europe, said: "The creation of the Country Manager position is a further testament to our commitment to building Beazley’s presence in Europe and to supporting our clients as they navigate an increasingly complex world. Harnessing her expertise, Lorena will develop and strengthen our relationships with partners, regulators and clients in the region, while ensuring that our colleagues are supported in fostering their own strategic relationships. Combined with her regional expertise and ability to drive business development, Lorena’s experience of successfully leading a team positions her as the best person to assume this role as we grow our capabilities in Southern Europe." https://lnkd.in/eFtAaUH6