QBE North America promoted a veteran executive to be Head of Professional Lines and Industry Verticals. At Safety National Re, its Chief Underwriting Officer for reinsurance has retired, and a rising executive has been promoted to succeed him.

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QBE North America appointed Toria Lessman as Senior Vice President, Head of Professional Lines and Industry Verticals.

Previously, Lessman served as Head of Transactional Liability, one of the key business lines in the Professional Lines portfolio.

In her new role, Lessman lead evaluation of the market to identify opportunities to profitably grow all the lines of business in the Professional Lines and Industry Verticals portfolio. Besides Transactional Liability, the business lines include E&O, D&O for both private and public companies, and the Financial Institutions and Healthcare industry vertical practices. She is based in QBE’s Chicago office.

Lessman has more than a decade of insurance industry experience, and joined QBE in 2011 in the insurer’s policy regulatory and compliance practice. After that, she focused on new product development for Management Liability & Professional Lines in 2014, helping to launch 29 Specialty insurance products. Four years later, she was promoted to lead the Transactional Liability business.

Before joining QBE, Lessman worked as a regulatory and compliance attorney with the law firm Tressler LLP, where she advised insurance companies and provided coverage litigation expertise across multiple lines of business.

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Bob King will become Safety National Re’s new senior vice president and Chief Underwriting Officer for reinsurance.

He will succeed Ray Harkins, who is retiring.

King joined Safety National in 2012 as vice president of Treaty Reinsurance, leading a team responsible for the production and underwriting of casualty treaty reinsurance opportunities. He was appointed to Safety National’s Senior Management Team and named Senor Vice President of Safety National Re in 2020.

King’s prior experience includes senior positions in a number of reinsurance companies in addition to a senior leadership role in the workers compensation specialty practice group for a global reinsurance broker.

King’s new appointment became effective on July 1, 2020. Harkins will remain in an advisory capacity until August 7, 2020.

Meanwhile, Harkins retires after a 44-year career in reinsurance and insurance. At Safety National, he provided leadership over all assumed reinsurance business since 2009. The company credited Harkins as being a key factor in the unit’s growth and success over that period. Those successes included conceptualizing a rebrand of the division as Safety National Re, leading diversification of offerings, expanding field presence and leading the division to produce $2 billion in cumulative earned premium, according to the company.

Sources: QBE North America, Safety National Re