CNA appointed three executives to new positions within its Commercial Insurance unit. RSA’s UK & International business named two executives focused on global and commercial risks. China’s Ping An Insurance Group named some new executives to run its FinTech investment division.
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CNA has made three leadership appointments within its Commercial Insurance unit.
- Michael Kirchgessner is the new senior vice president, Underwriting for CNA’s Large/Complex Casualty business. In this role, Kirchgessner will handle implementing underwriting strategies. He
will report to Kevin Leidwinger, president and chief operating officer, CNA Commercial.
- Chris Thurman, was named senior vice president, Underwriting for Workers Compensation. In this role, Thurman will lead the strategic direction for the Workers Compensation product line, and will report to Julie Stephenson, commercial chief underwriting officer.
- Kelly Walsh has been appointed to senior vice president, Underwriting for General Liability. In this role, Walsh will manage the strategic direction of CNA’s General Liability product line, and will also report to Stephenson.
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RSA’s UK & International business designated Tony Buckle and Rob Gibbs as managing directors of Global Risk Solutions (GRS) and Commercial Risk Solutions (CRS), respectively.
Buckle will join RSA on Feb. 1, 2018 to head up GRS, which provides wholesale and specialty insurance products to large and multinational customers through RSA’s operations in the UK, Europe and Dubai International Financial Centre.
Buckle joins RSA from Swiss Re, where he led its Global Engineering business from 2006-2013 and its Europe, Middle East and Africa Corporate Solutions business until mid-2017. As CEO of EMEA at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, he drove profitable local development of the business across the region. He brings with him a strong understanding of specialty lines, notably engineering and construction, as well as marine, agriculture and weather.
Gibbs is the new managing director of CRS, which develops insurance products for UK-based commercial customers and includes RSA’s partnership with Motability. Gibbs joined RSA as a graduate in 1998, and has worked for two decades across underwriting, strategy, mid-market regions and emerging markets. From 2014 to December 2017, Gibbs led the Motability business, responsible for end-to-end insurance operations, and achieving world-class customer service standards and indemnity performance.
Buckle and Gibbs will both report to Steve Lewis, CEO RSA UK & International, and join the UK executive board. These appointments are subject to regulatory approval.
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Ping An Insurance Group’s FinTech investment arm appointed new executives to help run it. Donald Lacey Jr. and Marco Huesch were hired on as managing director and chief operating officer, and managing director and chief medical officer, respectively, of the Ping An Global Voyager Fund and Ping An’s Group Innovation Office.
Lacey and Huesch join the team led by Jonathan Larson, the Ping An Group innovation officer and chairman/CEO of the Global Voyager Fund. Their mission: to spot global FinTech and healthtech opportunities that can help accelerate Ping An’s growth globally.
Previously, Lacey was with Citigroup’s corporate and investment banking arm, where he worked as a managing director in a number of senior roles across Asia Pacific. Before joining the fund, Huesch was vice chair of research and an associate professor at Penn State Hershey Medical Center in the U.S.
The Ping An Global Voyager Fund launched in 2017 with a mission to invest in world class FinTech and digital health capabilities.
Sources: CNA, RSA and Ping An Insurance Group
