Aspen Insurance made a number of new global product leadership appointments. QBE North America hired on an AIG veteran to oversee and grow its risk business. Markel’s venture arm promoted an executive to lead the division. And Safety Insurance is getting a new leader.

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Aspen Insurance, as part of an ongoing revamp, has appointed a number of new global product heads.

They include:

• Oliver Brew, executive vice president, global head of Cyber Risk & Head of International Professional Indemnity. Initially based in the U.S., Oliver will relocate to London in mid-2016. Previously, he was senior vice president, head of Errors & Omissions (E&O) with Liberty International Underwriters.
• Bruce Eisler, an Aspen vet going back to 2010, as global head of Professional Liability. In his new role, Bruce will develop a growth plan across new markets and geographies. Previously, he was executive vice president, head of U.S. Financial & Professional Lines, and will continue to serve in this role through a transition period.
• Don Harrell, global head of Marine & COO of International Operations. He will initially join Aspen in the U.S. and then relocate to London in 2016. With nearly twenty five years of industry experience, Donald joins Aspen from Liberty International Underwriters, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President of Marine, managing an underwriting team of more than fifty and holding P&L responsibility for a significant book of business.
• Tim Kani, global head of Onshore Energy & Construction and will be based in New York. The veteran industry executive was most recently senior vice president of Energy & Construction at Liberty International Underwriters, overseeing the growth and profitability of both U.S. and global businesses.
• Peter Slot, with Aspen Insurance since early 2015, as global head of Accident & Health. Based in London, Peter joined from Beazley, where he was head of Accident and Health (A&H) in the U.S., with responsibility for both insurance and reinsurance. Prior to this, he was the regional underwriting manager, A&H U.K. and Ireland for AIG, and also held previous underwriting roles at Houston Casualty Company (London) and Kiln Syndicate.

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An AIG veteran executive is joining QBE North America as its new senior vice president for risk management overseeing the insurer’s large North America risk business.

Joseph Davide will be tasked with developing and riving underwriting and business strategies for large/complex property, primary casualty and excess casualty risks. He will be based in New York City and report to Kathleen Zortman, president, Standard Lines – Property & Casualty, for QBE North America.

QBE’s North America risk arm falls under its Standard Lines – Property & Casualty division, which includes commercial, personal, program and agricultural businesses.

Davide is a longtime AIG veteran, and has held a number of leadership roles there over 21 years. Most recently, he was senior vice president, head of Excess Casualty, Corporate Accounts.

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Markel Ventures appointed Michael Heaton, its chief operating officer, as president.

Heaton, who will retain his COO title, will lead a division of Markel Corp., a company that markets and underwrites specialty insurance for a variety of niche markets. He’s been with Markel since 2006, and has held a number of leadership roles with the company.

Markel Ventures invests in a number of industrial and service businesses that operate outside of the specialty insurance marketplace, companies that are separate from Markel’s insurance operations.

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David Brussard, the president and CEO of Safety Insurance Group, plans to retire on March 31, but the Massachusetts-based property/casualty insurer already has a succession plan in place.

Replacing Brussard will be George Murphy, vice president of marketing as of April 1. Murphy has been at Safety since 1989 and has held a number of executive positions at the company since then. His experience has mostly focused on developing strong relationships with Safety’s network of independent agents, as well as building Safety’s brand recognition in New England.

Brussard won’t go away entirely, however. He’ll remain as non-executive chairman of the board of directors of Safety Insurance Group.

Brussard helped grow Safety into a Northeast-based publicly-traded property/casualty insurer with more than $1.2 billion in assets and nearly $800 million in premiums.

Sources: Aspen Insurance, QBE North America, Markel and Safety Insurance.