Markel Corp. appointed a new board member. The Hanover accelerated appointment of a new board chair to accommodate its transition plan.

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Markel Corp. appointed Mark Besca to its board of directors. Besca is a consultant to EY (formerly Ernst & Young, LLP) having retired from EY in June 2020 after a 42-year career with the multinational professional services firm.

Besca will be a member of the board’s Audit Committee.

Besca served as the leader of EY’s Long-Term Value and Stakeholder Capitalism initiative from 2018 until his retirement. From 2012 to 2018, he served as Managing Partner of EY’s New York office. From 2009 to 2011, he was Northeast Managing Partner of the Assurance and Advisory Business. In addition, from 1992 until his retirement, Besca was lead and senior advisory audit partner of Fortune 500 companies in the Media and Entertainment, Consumer Products and Airline industries.

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The Hanover Insurance Group has sped up its leadership transition plan with appointment of a new board chairman.

Cynthia Egan, the current board vice chair, will become chair as of Dec. 1. She became vice chair in February with the idea of becoming chair in May 2021 after the mandatory retirement of current chair Kevin Condron due to board policy on age. The acceleration was designed to allow for overlap and transition support before Condron’s retirement in 2021 after 13 years.

Previously, Egan was president of retirement plan services for T. Rowe Price Group, a global investment management organization, from 2007 until her retirement in 2012. Before joining T. Rowe Price, she held senior positions with Fidelity Investments, a multinational financial services corporation, from 1989 to 2007, including executive vice president, head of Fidelity’s Institutional Services Company, president of the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, and executive vice president of Fidelity Management Research Co. Egan is a director of UNUM Corporation, Huntsman Corporation, and the BlackRock Fixed Income Funds Complex, plus chair of the board of visitors of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Source: Markel, The Hanover