W.R. Berkley Corp. promoted two executives: one within its Berkley Public Entity arm and the other at its Admiral Insurance Unit. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. appointed an executive to its board of directors.

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W.R. Berkley Corp. appointed Scott Barraclough as chief executive officer of its Berkley Public Entity (BPE) unit, which specializes in public entities and intergovernmental pools or trusts, including law enforcement, public officials and educators.

In a related move, Berkley named Curtis Fletcher to succeed Barraclough as president of its Admiral Insurance unit, which provides excess and surplus lines coverage for hard-to-place, specialized risks involving moderate to high degrees of hazard, exclusively through wholesale brokers.

The appointments are effective immediately.

Barraclough most recently served as president of Admiral Insurance. He joined the company in 1996 and has held various financial and operational positions throughout his 20-plus-year career with Admiral.

Fletcher joined Admiral Insurance in 1998 and most recently served as executive vice president and chief underwriting officer. He has over 30 years of property/casualty insurance industry experience, with a focus on both excess and surplus lines and reinsurance underwriting and management.

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AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. appointed Elly Hardwick to the company’s board of directors, effective Nov. 1, 2018.

Hardwick, a leader in the FinTech industry, has held senior leadership roles at Credit Benchmark Ltd., Thomson Reuters and, most recently, Deutsche Bank AG, where she was head of Innovation, according to the announcement of her appointment.

Before joining AXIS, Hardwick led innovation across Deutsche Bank’s business lines and functions globally, supporting the company’s digital strategy development. Previously, she was chief executive officer of Credit Benchmark Ltd., a FinTech startup and provider of credit risk data, leading the company from its foundation in 2012.

Before that, Hardwick held a succession of senior leadership positions at Thomson Reuters, including global head of Strategy, Investment and Advisory; global head of Professional Publishing; and head of Strategy for Europe and Asia. Hardwick has also worked at Morgan Stanley International, Booz-Allen & Hamilton, and the United Kingdom’s Department of Trade and Industry.

Hardwick’s appointment increases the size of the AXIS Capital board of directors to 12 members, 10 of whom are independent directors.

Sources: W.R. Berkley Corp., AXIS Capital holdings