Sean Kevelighan
Sean Kevelighan

The Insurance Information Institute has chosen its new leader – an ex- public affairs executive for Zurich Insurance Group who also once worked for President George W. Bush’s administration in various roles.

Sean Kevelighan will officially assume his role as president and CEO of I.I.I. on Aug. 8. He replaces Robert Hartwig, the organization’s longtime head. Hartwig announced in February that he’d be stepping down from the insurance industry-supported non-profit to join the faculty of the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business.

Kevelighan, 43, was most recently global head of public affairs for Zurich. In this role, he set the carrier’s global public policy and corporate responsibility agendas. Also at Zurich, he served as head of North American group media relations. Before Zurich, he was group head of global consumer banking public affairs for Citigroup, overseeing strategic communications for the global bank and financial services giant.

Additionally, Kevelighan has federal government experience, having worked in President George W. Bush’s administration for the Treasury Department, and as press secretary for the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Hartwig speaking at Property/ Casualty Insurance Joint Industry Forum, January 2014 Photo by Don Pollard
Hartwig speaking at Property/ Casualty Insurance Joint Industry Forum, January 2014
Photo by Don Pollard

I.I.I. Board Chairman Bruce Kelley said that board members’ final vote for Kevelighan was unanimous.

Kevelighan “is an ideal fit for the CEO role due to his success as a media spokesperson in both corporate and government settings, as well as his international insurance industry experience,” Kelley said in prepared remarks.

Hartwig, meanwhile, will also be co-director of the Moore School’s Risk and Uncertainty Management Center. He’ll still keep some ties with I.I.I., however, with plans to write periodic research reports for the organization and give presentations and testify for public policymakers on the I.I.I.’s behalf.

Source: I.I.I.