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Executive Changes
Philadelphia Insurance Cos. Names New Chief Executive

John W. Glomb takes over for Bob O’Leary, who has stepped aside after eight years in the top spot. Also, NAIC elects 2021 officers, III chief economist to retire and Scor SE names CEO successor.

John

John W. Glomb

Bob

Bob O'Leary

Philadelphia Insurance Cos. named John W. Glomb to succeed Bob O'Leary as chief executive officer.

Glomb previously was president of PHLY. O'Leary, who was with the company 38 years, the past eight as CEO, will continue to serve as chairman of the board, according to a company statement.

“It's been a joy working alongside some of the finest people in our industry,” said O'Leary, who became CEO in 2013 and chairman in January 2020. “PHLY is truly a special company. I've had a lot of fun serving as CEO the past eight years, but now it's time for a new era to begin.”

Glomb joined Philadelphia Insurance in 2007 as senior vice president of the management and professional liability division. He became chief underwriting officer in 2011, after which Philadelphia launched new surety, corporate underwriting, environmental, excess and surplus, and accident and health divisions. The company also expanded operations to enhance underwriting for small businesses.

In 1982 O'Leary joined Maguire Insurance Agency, which in 1987 became Philadelphia Insurance Cos. He helped establish the Northeast region in his hometown of Boston and was part of the team that helped the company expand nationwide and become publicly traded in 1993. Tokio Marine Group acquired Philadelphia Insurance in December 2008.

“I am tremendously excited about the opportunity to lead PHLY's next chapter with the support of our exceptional team. We've shown how resilient we are as a company this year, which fills me with optimism for the future,” Glomb said.

—Staff Report


Regina Heyward

Regina Heyward

MassMutual Fills Newly Created Role of Head of Supplier Diversity

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. has named Regina Heyward the company's first head of supplier diversity.

The position was created to strengthen MassMutual's supplier diversity program. Heyward will build upon the company's ongoing practices, establish a supplier diversity strategy and work with the company's suppliers to ensure their continued investment in diversity, equality and inclusion within their businesses.

Heyward most recently served as senior vice president and head of supplier diversity at Wells Fargo & Co. She has worked globally in Asia, Latin America and Europe.


David Altmaier

David Altmaier

NAIC Elects 2021 Officers, Including Florida Commissioner Altmaier as President

Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier will serve as 2021 president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, following the organization's election of officers at the close of its 2020 Fall National Meeting. Also elected: Idaho Insurance Director Dean L. Cameron as president-elect; Missouri Insurance Director Chlora Lindley-Myers, vice president; and Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Andrew Mais, secretary-treasurer.

Altmaier was appointed commissioner of the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in 2016. He began his public service at the OIR in 2008 and was chief analyst of the property/casualty financial oversight unit and deputy commissioner of property/casualty insurance.

Cameron, commissioner of Idaho since 2015, had been the most senior member of the Idaho Senate—in his 13th term—when he was appointed. Lindley-Myers was appointed director of the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance in 2017. She served in several senior positions in the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government. Mais, who was nominated as Connecticut insurance commissioner in 2019, had been a member of Deloitte's Center for Financial Services, primarily focused on the insurance sector from a global perspective.


Tracey Swain

Tracey Swain

Apollo Insurance Solutions Names Chief Financial Officer

Apollo Insurance Solutions Ltd. named Tracey Swain to the Apollo leadership team as chief financial officer.

Swain has more than 20 years of experience in progressive accounting, audit and finance roles for global companies. Most recently, she served as CFO for O2E Brands. Prior to that, she was vice president of internal audit for Lululemon and was vice president of corporate finance for Adidas.


Susan L. Lees

Susan L. Lees

Allstate Corp. Names First Chief Sustainability Officer

Allstate Corp. has named Susan L. Lees to the newly created role of chief sustainability officer. Executive Vice President and General Counsel Rhonda Ferguson will take over Lees' previous roles as chief legal officer and secretary of the corporation.

Lees will focus on environmental, social and governance initiatives. She joined Allstate in 1988 and has held a variety of leadership positions, most notably in her previous role as executive vice president, chief legal officer, general counsel and secretary.

Ferguson joined Allstate in September from Union Pacific Railroad, where she had served as executive vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary.


Steven Weisbart

Steven Weisbart

Insurance Information Institute Chief Economist to Retire

Insurance Information Institute Chief Economist Steven Weisbart is retiring from the position but will continue with the organization as a nonresident scholar.

Weisbart has authored books and papers and spoken widely about economic trends in the insurance industry. In 2006, he researched the potential impact of a pandemic on the life insurance industry.

Prior to joining III 15 years ago, Weisbart was for seven years an associate professor in the Department of Risk Management and Insurance at Georgia State University, and a vice president at the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association from 1978 to 2005. He has been a board member and decades-long member of the American Risk and Insurance Association.


Benoît Ribadeau-Dumas

Benoît
Ribadeau-Dumas

Scor Names CEO Successor, Separates Chairman and CEO Roles

Scor SE has named Benoît Ribadeau-Dumas its next chief executive officer, as the group's board of directors decided to separate the chairman and CEO roles.

Ribadeau-Dumas will succeed Denis Kessler following the company's general meeting in 2022. Until then, Ribadeau-Dumas will be deputy CEO and a member of the group's executive committee, in addition to being nominated to join the board at the 2021 general meeting.

The board separated the roles of chairman and CEO and also voted unanimously for Kessler to continue as chairman; a resolution to this effect will be submitted to the 2021 general meeting.

Ribadeau-Dumas, 48, joined CGG, a company specializing in underground exploration, as executive vice president in charge of the marine division, in 2010. He was promoted to manager of the acquisitions division in 2014. The following year, he joined the executive committee of Zodiac Aerospace. In 2017, he became chief of staff to the prime minister.

He began his career at the French Council of State, and became adviser to the prime minister from 2002 to 2004. In 2004, he joined Thales, an electrical systems group specializing in aerospace, defense and security.


Todd Solash

Todd Solash

AIG Life and Retirement Expands Role of CEO

AIG Life and Retirement has named Todd Solash, chief executive officer of its individual retirement business, to a newly expanded role of CEO, individual retirement and life insurance.

Solash has taken on the leadership of the company's life insurance business. He is responsible for driving the division's strategic agenda. AIG Life and Retirement is a division of American International Group Inc.

He joined AIG in 2017 from Axa U.S., where he was head of the firm's individual annuities business. Before that, he was a partner within the insurance practice at Oliver Wyman.


Adam Winslow

Adam Winslow

Aviva Names Leader to Newly Created Role of CEO International

Aviva has named Adam Winslow to the newly created role of chief executive officer, international. The company also said that Chris Wei, Aviva's executive chairman for Asia for the past six years, has decided to leave the company at the end of June 2021.

Winslow will join the group executive committee. He will be responsible for Aviva's international businesses in continental Europe and Asia.

Winslow has 20 years of experience in the international insurance industry, most recently as CEO, global life insurance, at American International Group Inc. Winslow previously held several CEO roles at AIG and was also a director of partnerships and director of retail at Aviva U.K.


Matthew J. Palmieri

Matthew J. Palmieri

Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Names Successor to Retiring President

Universal Insurance Holdings Inc. named Matthew J. Palmieri to succeed Jon W. Springer as president of Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Co., a wholly owned subsidiary.

Springer will remain on the board of directors.

Palmieri previously served as president of Blue Atlantic Reinsurance Corp., a wholly owned reinsurance intermediary subsidiary of Universal Insurance Holdings. Palmieri began his career with Universal Insurance Holdings in 2006, working with Springer. Prior to that he worked at Chubb, Tempest Re and Willis Re.


John Keogh

John Keogh

Gabriel Lazaro

Gabriel Lazaro

Chubb Makes Title Change for COO, Names Digital Head for Overseas General Insurance

Chubb has named Executive Vice Chairman and COO John Keogh as president and COO. His companywide responsibilities will remain unchanged, and he will continue to report to Chairman and CEO Evan G. Greenberg.

In addition, Chubb named Gabriel Lazaro to the newly created role of senior vice president, digital head for overseas general insurance.

Keogh has served as chief operating officer since 2011. He joined the company, then Ace, in 2006 as chairman, insurance-overseas general. He was appointed vice chairman in 2010 and executive vice chairman in 2015. Before joining Ace, Keogh had a 20-year career with American International Group Inc.

Lazaro, most recently vice president, digital head, Latin America, will have responsibility for digital insurance product distribution and sales in countries and territories outside North America. He joined Chubb five years ago from American International Group Inc.


Kevin Strain

Kevin Strain

Sun Life Financial Names Current CFO to Succeed Retiring CEO

Sun Life Financial Inc. named Kevin Strain, currently executive vice president and CFO, to succeed Dean Connor as president and CEO. Strain also will retain the title and responsibilities of CFO until a successor is named in the first half of 2021.

Strain will become president and a member of the Sun Life board of directors on Feb. 15. He will replace Connor as CEO on Aug. 6, when Connor retires from the company and the board of directors after 14 years with the company—the last 10 as CEO.

Strain joined Clarica in 1997, which was acquired by Sun Life in 2002. He has held senior business and financial roles in Canada and launched Sun Life Global Investments before assuming leadership of Sun Life Asia in 2012. Strain returned to Canada in 2017, where he assumed the role of executive vice president and CFO.


Ana Cifuentes

Ana Cifuentes

Aspen Re America Names Head of Professional Lines

Aspen Re, the reinsurance segment of Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd., named Ana Cifuentes to the newly created role of head of professional lines for Aspen Re America. She will be based in New York.

Cifuentes was most recently deputy head of business development and innovation, senior vice president, at Axis Re Global, from 2016 to 2018. Prior to this, she was senior vice president, U.S. professional liability underwriting, at Axis Re U.S., in New York, from 2009 to 2016. She also served as vice president, European casualty underwriting, Axis Re Europe, in Zurich, from 2005 to 2008. She began her career as a European casualty underwriter at Gerling Global Re in Madrid.


Tom Shewry

Tom Shewry

Hiscox Makes Interim CFO Permanent

Hiscox, a specialist global insurer, has named interim CFO Tom Shewry to the position permanently, for its U.K. business and Hiscox Insurance Co. Ltd.

Shewry has more than 20 years' experience in general insurance, working in a variety of commercial roles. He joined Hiscox in 2018 as director of group finance where he led the development of the group finance function, establishing new processes and capabilities before becoming CFO for Hiscox UK on an interim basis in September 2020.


Roberto Walker

Roberto Walker

Thomas Cheong

Thomas Cheong

Principal Financial Group Promotes Two, International Division CEO Retires

Principal Financial Group has promoted regional presidents Roberto Walker (Latin America) and Thomas Cheong (Asia) of Principal International to executive vice president. In addition, Principal International President and CEO Luis Valdés will retire after 26 years at the company.

Walker and Cheong are based in Santiago, Chile, and the Hong Kong Special Administration Region, respectively.

Valdés will retire March 31 after leading Principal International the past nine years, driving significant growth in Latin America and Asia, including several major acquisitions for Principal to grow its footprint in key emerging markets. Valdés will serve as chairman of the Principal International board for two years following his retirement.

Walker joined Principal in 1996 and has led Latin America for Principal International since 2011. Cheong joined Principal in 2015 as vice president of North Asia for Principal International and took over leadership responsibilities for the entire Asia region in 2019.



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