CNA has chosen a former Endurance executive to fill the newly-created position of executive vice president and chief underwriting officer.

Douglas Worman will take on his new duties on March 7. He’ll report directly to CNA Chairman and CEO Dino Robusto, with a focus on working jointly with the presidents of Commercial, Specialty and International, all of whom will continue to report to Robusto.

Bringing Worman on board in this newly-created executive role is designed to “further strengthen CNA’s underwriting strategy, expertise and execution,” the insurer said in its announcement.

Robusto noted in prepared remarks that the goal is essentially to use Worman’s experience and leadership “to broaden our profitable growth opportunities around the world.”

Worman most recently served as CEO of U.S. Insurance at Endurance Holdings, where he was charged with profitably growing the business, enhancing underwriting strategies, empowering talent and improving agent/broker relationships. Before that, he held executive positions at Alterra Capital Holdings and Sharebridge Private Equity Consolidated. Worman started out in the insurance industry as an underwriter at AIG, where he eventually worked his way up the ladder to president and CEO of the carrier’s Excess Casualty Group, CNA said.

As an executive, Worman has also spoken out about industry trends. While still with Endurance, at the U.S. Regional Conference of the International Association of Claim Professionals in June, he noted that carrier management teams were at a point of evaluating their costs and trying to adjust their infrastructures to squeeze out some profit.

This process has been necessary “because right now the cost basis from the insurance underwriting side is unsustainable [over the] long term,” Worman said at the time. “It just won’t work.”

Source: CNA