Hallmark Financial Services, an insurance holding company based in Texas, has brought on a veteran executive from Torus Insurance Holdings Ltd. and CNA Financial Corp. as its new CEO.

Naveen Anand will take over the top spot from Mark Morrison, who has served as CEO since 2006, but will remain with the company as Senior Executive Vice President.

Anand most recently was based at Torus as its U.S. chief executive and global chief operating officer. While there, he helped the company develop its global operating platform and functional capabilities, plus its underwriting platforms. Additionally, he handled all Torus business lines and operations in North and South America. Before that, Anand ran the $3 billion commercial insurance business at CNA Financial Corp. He’s also a veteran of Chubb Corp. and St. Paul Insurance Company.

Hallmark Executive Chairman Mark Schwarz said in a statement that Anand’s background and abilities will help further “Hallmark’s continuing development into a larger and more valuable company.”

At the same time, Schwarz credited Morrison’s tenure as CEO with helping to transform Hallmark “into a diversified specialty property/casualty insurance company” that has enjoyed compound annual growth in gross premiums written and book value per share of 34 percent and 10 percent, respectively since 2004.

Anand is expected to be based at Hallmark’s Forth Worth headquarters. Hallmark, through its subsidiaries, sells property/casualty insurance products to businesses and individual consumers, as well as other insurance-related services.

Source: Hallmark Financial Services