Zurich Insurance made two executive appointments. Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance said it has expanded its Global Property Underwriting Officer team.

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Zurich Insurance Group made two new executive appointments: Ralph Brand as global head of Casualty, Financial Lines and Cyber, and Chris Waterman as global head of Property, Marine and Technical Lines.

Both Brand and Waterman are highly experienced insurance executives with more than 30 years of experience in regional and local roles, Zurich said. With these newly created roles, Zurich further simplifies its Underwriting function by aligning the shorter-tail first party coverages and the longer-tail third party liability coverages.

Brand joined Zurich in March 2012 as CEO of Zurich Germany. He left in 2016 to start his own business and rejoined Zurich in 2019 as global head of Casualty. Previously, he held various leadership roles at AIG and Allianz across Europe and in the United States. Brand is based in Zurich.

Waterman joined Zurich in July 2016 in Singapore, where he most recently was Head of Commercial Lines Underwriting APAC. Before joining the company, he held various leadership roles at AIG, including head of Property & Energy in Japan. Waterman will relocate from Singapore to Zurich.

Accident & Health and Credit and Surety will continue to be led by Drazen Jaksic and Piergiorgio D’Ignazio, respectively.

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Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance said it has expanded its Global Property Underwriting Officer team.

Alessandro Cerase has joined and will focus on General Property, Energy and Construction. At the same time, he will continue as Senior Executive Officer for BHSI’s Middle East region.

Cerase joined BHSI as SEO for the Middle East in 2018. A chemical engineer by background, he has more than 20 years of experience with energy and technical risks. As he assumes his additional responsibilities, Cerase will remain based in Dubai.

Sources: Zurich and BHSI