According to Best, notable initiatives have included entering into strategic relationships to write catastrophe excess casualty and long-term environmental policies, securing pro-rata reinsurance to provide larger gross limits for clients, and reducing the risk appetite for property-catastrophe exposures.

Additionally, Best noted, Ironshore has increased its employee count with experienced personnel to support the company's needs under its revised business plans. These seasoned veterans are familiar with Ironshore's new management team, having previously worked with most team members, Best said.

A review of the current roster employees reveals most of the new management team hails from American International Group's specialty operations.

Ironshore announced late last year that it snagged two leaders of senior management from AIG--Kevin Kelley, the former chief executive of AIG's specialty insurer, Lexington Insurance, and Shaun Kelly, who had been Lexington's president and chief operating officer.

Kevin Kelley became Ironshore's new CEO, replacing founding CEO Robert Deutsch, who has since left the company. Shaun Kelly took on the role of CEO of Ironshore's U.S. Operations.

Ironshore, which started its life as a Bermuda-based commercial property insurer in late 2007, has since formed IronPro to enter the management liability arena; IronBuilt to serve the construction market; IronHealth, specializing in health care liability; and IronSelect, an excess casualty division.

The company also entered the Lloyd's market, buying Pembroke Managing Agency and Syndicate 4000 in a deal that closed in early September last year.

More recently, in late January, Ironshore announced that it would team up with C.V. Starr & Co. to launch Iron-Starr Excess Agency Ltd., a specialty lines insurance and reinsurance managing general agency, offering up to $75 million of catastrophic excess casualty capacity for Fortune 2000 companies and other excess financial and commercial lines insurance and reinsurance products.

The latest addition to the Ironshore team, announced yesterday, is Tim McAuliffe, who was appointed president of Ironshore's U.S. Specialty Casualty unit. Mr. McAuliffe spent 14 years in various senior leadership roles at AIG, including his most recent position as president of AIG Excess Casualty.

Also joining the U.S. Specialty Casualty unit is Ben Beauvais, who has been appointed senior vice president. Mr. Beauvais spent 14 years at Lexington before coming to Ironshore.

Also affirmed in today's action was the "triple-b-minus" issuer credit rating of the parent company.