Markel COO, claims; Zurich NA chief underwriting officer: Career moves

April 10, 2023 12:27 PM

Zurich North America HQ — Zurich Insurance's North American headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Markel announced Richie Henry as its chief operating officer, claims. Henry, who joined the company in 2013 and most recently served as senior managing director, divisional CIO, will oversee the North America Claims operations including data and analytics, claims vendor management and transformation efforts. "Richie's extensive experience in both claims and technology will bring tremendous value to our Claims organization and our leadership team," said Nick Conca, Chief Claims Officer, in a statement. "We look forward to having him work with key business partners to continually improve Markel's effectiveness for our customers."

Zurich North America named Heather Fox as its chief underwriting officer. Fox was most recent with ARC Excess & Surplus where she was the general counsel and chief brokerage officer. She previously worked at AIG. In the new role, Fox will lead a technical underwriting team. "We welcome Heather to the team as Chief Underwriting Officer, which is a critical role for Zurich North America to ensure that we deliver on our commitments and continually build on our underwriting expertise," Zurich North America CEO Kristof Terryn said in a statement. "I also want to thank Peter Caminiti, who did a tremendous job as the interim Chief Underwriting Officer and has transitioned into his new role as the U.S. National Accounts Head of Underwriting."

MassMutual announced John Rugel as its head of operations. Rugel, who was most recently COO at Global Atlantic Financial Group, will be responsible for operations and customer service functions including policy administration and claims. MassMutual Chairman, President and CEO, Roger Crandall said in a statement: "I am confident that John's extensive industry background, proven ability to drive a 'customer-first' mindset, expertise with infusing technology into operations, and sharp focus on developing talent make him the ideal leader to take on this critical role as we continue on our journey to delivering a world class experience for those who rely on us."

USAA has hired two new senior vice presidents. Joseph Gates as SVP, chief risk officer for the P&C company and David Selchen as SVP, organizational and total talent management. Gates was most recently the chief risk officer at American Family Insurance. USAA's Chief Risk Officer Neeraj Singh, said in a statement: "Joseph's global experience and expertise in overall risk management, analytics, catastrophe management and modeling will help us effectively manage a range of industry-wide business challenges and better serve our members."

The Standard promotes Piet Louw to second vice president of information security and deputy chief security officer. Louw joined the company in 2021. In the new role, he will oversee security engineering, asset and platform security as well as security program management.

Property and casualty insurance