Although his early dreams of covering world events as a foreign correspondent were never realized, Juan Andrade, the new chief executive of Everest Re, has seen and done almost everything in the world of insurance.Executive SummaryEverest Re’s new CEO Juan Andrade describes a series of leadership positions across the insurance industry that have made him comfortable with complexity and a roll-up-your-sleeves leadership style that has served him in almost every corner of the business. Poised for the first time to lead what is largely a reinsurance operation, he also talks about growth strategies already in place at Everest in primary insurance and reinsurance, which are likely to continue in the years ahead.
Until October 2019, however, he hadn’t worked on the reinsurance side of the business. Now leading a 47-year-old company that currently reports 70 percent of its total premiums in reinsurance and 30 percent in insurance, Andrade is eager to dive into the nuances of assumed reinsurance for the first time.
Officially becoming chief executive officer on Jan. 1 2020, Andrade joined Everest Re as chief operating officer last October. Before that he was president of Overseas General Insurance at Chubb, with responsibility for both traditional and specialty property/casualty insurance business in over 50 countries outside of North America. That was just one of the challenging leadership roles that shows up on a résumé that includes positions commanding the underwriting, product development, claims, sales and distribution, and strategy development teams of some of the industry’s most iconic brands, domestically and internationally, for both personal and commercial lines.