Directorate Change

RNS Number : 8438E

Beazley Group PLC

02 October 2008

 



Senior Level Appointments Announced

London, 2 October 2008

Beazley Group plc has made a series of senior level management appointments designed to strengthen the group's operational capabilities and ability to exploit attractive underwriting opportunities.

Neil Maidment, head of the Reinsurance division, takes on the additional role of chairman of the underwriting committee and active underwriter of syndicates 623 and 2623. In this capacity, he will be responsible for the group's underwriting strategy in consultation with the heads of the other four divisions: Property, Marine & Energy, Specialty Lines, and Political Risks & Contingency.

Jonathan Gray, head of the Property division, will chair a new management group focusing on the development of Beazley Group's US business, whether underwritten at Lloyd's or locally in the US market. The United States is Beazley's most important geographic market, representing 55% of gross premiums in 2007.

Adrian Cox, formerly head of the professions group within Specialty Lines, Beazley's largest division, has become head of Specialty Lines, following the departure of Johnny Rowell, announced in June. Mr Cox had been responsible for the day to day running of the Specialty Lines division since Mr Rowell began chairing Beazley's underwriting committee last year. He has also been appointed to the board of Beazley Furlonge, Ltd., the group's Lloyd's managing agency.

David Marock, head of Specialty Lines claims, has been appointed chief operating officer of Beazley Group, a new position. In this capacity, he will work closely with Andrew Horton, Beazley Group chief executive, Philippe Mazas, chief information officer, and Penny Malik, head of talent management, among others, to ensure that Beazley underwriters have the operational capabilities to respond swiftly and surely to changing market opportunities. 

Announcing the new appointments, Andrew Horton said: 'I am delighted to be able to call upon such talented and experienced individuals to fill these important roles at Beazley. We are, I believe, extremely well placed to offer our brokers and clients the support and solutions they need in this very challenging market.'

Biographical details of the above appointees are supplied below.

For further information, please contact:

Beazley Group plc

Tel: [phone]

William Pitt

Finsbury Group

Tel: [phone]

Vanessa Neill, Associate Partner

Andrew Holt, Executive

Note to editors:

Beazley Group, plc (BEZ.L), based in London, is the parent company of global, specialist insurance businesses with operations in the UK, US, France, Singapore and Hong Kong.  Beazley manages two Lloyd's syndicates (Syndicate 2623 and Syndicate 623) with aggregate underwriting capacity in 2008 of £814m (US$1.6bn). Both syndicates are rated A by A.M. Best. In the US, Beazley's underwriters focus on writing specialist insurance products in the admitted market, backed by Beazley Insurance Company, Inc., an admitted carrier in all 50 states; and surplus lines risks, backed by the Beazley syndicates at Lloyd's. Beazley Insurance Company, Inc. is rated A by A.M. Best. 

Beazley is a market leader in many of its chosen lines, which include professional indemnity, commercial property, marine, reinsurance, and personal lines. 

For more information please go to: www.beazley.com

Biographical details

Neil Maidment

Neil Maidment, 45, is the Chairman of the Group Underwriting Committee and head of Beazley's Reinsurance division.  After graduating from St Edmund Hall, Oxford, he began his career at Lloyd's in 1984. He joined Beazley in 1990 and was appointed to the Board in 1993. Neil is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray, 55, is head of the Group's Property division, having joined the company in 1992. Jonathan sits on Beazley's Executive and PLC boards and leads the Property group with operations in the UK, US and Asia. Jonathan entered Lloyd's in 1973 when he began his career as an underwriting assistant, with a focus on North American property.  

Adrian Cox

Adrian Cox, 37, is head of the Group's Specialty Lines division, as well as underwriter for Beazley's specialty treaty reinsurance business.  Adrian joined Beazley in 2001 and has worked in a variety of roles across Specialty Lines, including Underwriting Manager and leader of the Private Enterprise and Professions teams. He began his career in 1993 at General Re, trained in New York and working in London, Manchester and Boston writing facultative reinsurance before moving to the Treaty Department in 1997.

David Marock

David Marock, 37, joined Beazley in May 2005. Prior to his appointment as chief operating officer, he was responsible for the Specialty Lines and Political risk & Contingency Group claims teams and for the underwriting team focussing on small non-US professional and management liability business. He has worked for more than 15 years in the financial services sector. Before joining Beazley, David spent six years at McKinsey advising global financial services players on strategic, operational and corporate finance matters. Prior to that, he led a business development team at an institutional asset manager and was a life and pensions actuary.

 

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