AXA XL currently has four reinsurance underwriting regions: London, led by Rob Littlemore; Bermuda, led by Jonathan Gale; North America, led by John Welch; and international, led by David Watson, all of whom report to Charles Cooper, reinsurance chief executive.
Now, AXA XL has announced that, effective January 2, 2020, subject to regulatory approvals, the following changes will take place:
- Mr. Littlemore will assume leadership of a newly-created global markets business, consisting of AXA XL's Bermuda and London reinsurance platforms. Mr. Littlemore brings more than 28 years' experience underwriting U.S. casualty reinsurance classes including having served as legacy Catlin's head of reinsurance in London and becoming XL Catlin's underwriting director of London reinsurance in 2015.
- Paul Simons, head of property for global markets, also will serve as head of Bermuda reinsurance and will report to Mr. Littlemore.
- Mr. Watson has decided to retire at the end of 2019.
"David has been with the company for more than 26 years," noted Mr. Cooper. "During his tenure, David was instrumental in establishing our presence as a recognized leader in the international casualty market. His leadership, expertise, and dedication will be sorely missed."
AXA XL added that, following Mr. Watson's retirement, John Welch, chief executive of North America reinsurance, will assume leadership of AXA XL international reinsurance business.
To take on his new role in January, Mr. Welch is relocating to Dublin, Ireland. Mr. Welch joined AXA XL's reinsurance operations in 1997. AXA XL said that Mr. Welch's successor to lead the North America business will be announced in the near future.
In addition, AXA XL said that Mr. Gale is assuming the role of chief underwriting officer, currently held by Chris Dougherty, who is assuming the role of chief executive for underwriting capital management AXA XL. Mr. Gale will be responsible for delivering underwriting excellence, underwriting portfolio management, customer relationship management, developing new business opportunities and further demonstrating AXA XL's thought leadership capabilities. Mr. Gale joined legacy Catlin in 2002 and held progressively senior underwriting roles before most recently becoming Chief Executive Bermuda Reinsurance.
In his new role, AXA XL said, Mr. Dougherty will be responsible for all AXA XL outwards reinsurance placements and will also work with AXA XL's head of alternative capital, Daniel Brookman, in optimizing AXA XL's utilization of traditional hedges as well as alternative and partnership capital. During his 25-year career, Mr. Dougherty has held a variety of senior positions in both the insurance and reinsurance sectors, including serving as executive vice president for insurance underwriting and ceded ee.
AXA XL's reinsurance chief operating officer, Dawn Dinkins, will lead the newly centralized claims and operational functions. Ms. Dinkins has 30 years of claims experience, with 23 years spent in reinsurance claims. She assumed the reinsurance COO role at the end of 2016.
Commenting on the changes, Mr. Cooper said, "To help our brokers and clients even more quickly and easily access our expertise and products, we're simplifying our organizational structure. Our North American and international businesses will continue to focus on the customers and brokers in their local markets. However, we're combining our Bermuda and London platforms to create a global markets business platform that will focus on the global catastrophe, casualty, and specialty business that are placed in these markets. We're also centralizing claims and operational functions into one global unit to embed consistency in approach and leverage global resources. We believe that these changes will be mutually beneficial to our trading partners and to our organization."
Learn more: www.axaxl.com.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].