Zurich Insurance named a new chief underwriting officer for its Zurich North America Unit. AIG appointed an XL Catlin veteran to lead its Bermuda business. Catastrophe modeler RMS appointed a former IBM executive to lead its sales and client development efforts.
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Zurich Insurance appointed Brandon Fick as chief underwriting officer for Zurich North America.
Fick is currently head of Casualty for Zurich North America Commercial Insurance, and he officially takes on his new position as of Sept. 17, 2018. He will report directly to Zurich North America CEO Kathleen Zavio and join the insurer’s North America senior team.
Fick replaces Geno Fernandez, who has left Zurich to pursue other opportunities, according to a spokesperson.
In his current role, Fick manages the North America Commercial Insurance casualty book. He previously served as head of Casualty for Global Corporate in North America and senior vice president of Casualty for Global Corporate’s large corporate customer segment. He joined Zurich in 1999 as an underwriter and has held a variety of underwriting and management roles at Zurich. Before joining Zurich, Fick held a variety of underwriting and management roles at AIG.
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American International Group is bringing on Catherine Duffy to join the company’s General Insurance business as country manager of Bermuda.
In her new role, Duffy will oversee AIG’s insurance operations and strategy in Bermuda, reporting to Lex Baugh, chief executive officer of North America General Insurance. Duffy will work closely with product leadership to drive innovation and service excellence for the insurer’s clients and distribution partners. She will serve as AIG’s principal liaison with the Bermuda Monetary Authority and other local stakeholders.
Duffy is a veteran of the Bermuda international insurance market, with nearly 30 years of experience. She joins AIG from XL Catlin, where she was most recently senior vice president and underwriting manager for XL Bermuda Ltd. Duffy has held various underwriting leadership roles over the years, including senior vice president, Excess Liability at Torus Insurance Bermuda and vice president, Underwriting at XL Insurance (Bermuda).
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Catastrophe modeler RMS appointed Neil Isford to the role of executive vice president, Sales & Client Development.
Isford will report to Chief Executive Officer Karen White and serve as a member of the company’s executive committee. He 
will oversee all aspects of client development, sales and consulting at RMS, including the global sales, professional services, solutions and customer success organizations.
Isford is a technology industry veteran with deep relationships throughout the global enterprise community. Most recently, he served as worldwide general manager, Watson Financial Services Solutions at IBM. There he led sales and customer success for a global organization, delivering double-digit revenue growth from a portfolio of new AI and analytics-based industry platform products in the areas of financial risk, financial crimes, regulatory compliance & governance, payments, and customer insight.
Isford began his career at IBM Canada before moving to the United States in 1994. Starting in 1997, he has held a number of executive positions including running e-business services for IBM Global Services as the internet was emerging as a commerce platform.
Sources: Zurich Insurance, AIG, RMS