Everest Re Group brought on a former Munich Re executive in a leadership role, and promoted another executive within its Treaty Casualty & Surety division. W. R. Berkley Corp. appointed a new president of its Admiral Insurance Group unit. Pie Insurance named a new board member who will help support the company’s continued expansion.

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Everest Re Group, Ltd. is bringing on Jill Beggs as Senior Vice President and Head of North America Reinsurance, effective November 15, 2021.

Beggs will oversee the strategic direction of Everest’s reinsurance business in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda, and will report directly to Jim Williamson, Everest Group COO and Head of Reinsurance. This newly created role, along with the ongoing investments in the company’s reinsurance talent are designed to strengthen Everest’s leading market position and accelerate progress toward its strategic plan objectives.

Beggs comes to Everest with 30 years of deep reinsurance underwriting expertise. Most recently she was at Munich Re where, over the last 20 years, she held various key roles leading U.S. treaty and facultative programs across multiple lines of business. She is also credited with spearheading the company’s innovation incubator and E&S insurance start-up. Beggs spent the first 10 years of her career at Everest in treaty property underwriting in the U.S. and Latin America. Beggs is a prolific industry thought leader, and the recipient of numerous industry honors and awards.

The company also announced that Everest Insurance leader Connie Germano will be transitioning to its reinsurance division as Senior Vice President, Treaty Casualty & Surety. Germano brings 35 years of casualty underwriting experience to the role and will report directly to Beggs. Most recently Germano was President of Specialty Casualty at Everest Insurance. Before that, she held senior casualty underwriting roles with ACE in the U.S. and Zurich, Switzerland. Germano succeeds Everest Reinsurance veteran Dennis Alba, who will retire in 2022 after a very successful 40-year career in the industry.

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W.R. Berkley Corp. appointed Daniel Smyrl as president of its Admiral Insurance Group unit. He succeeds Curtis Fletcher who has been named chairman of Admiral.

Smyrl joined Admiral in 2002 and most recently served as executive vice president of underwriting. He has nearly 40 years of commercial property and casualty insurance experience in underwriting and management.

Fletcher has been with Admiral for 23 years and was named president in 2018. He has been instrumental in advancing Admiral as a leader in the excess and surplus lines commercial insurance market. As chairman, he will maintain an active role, providing insights and strategic guidance.

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Pie Insurance, a workers compensation InsurTech, named Kristina Johnson, an accomplished global human resources leader and advisor, to its Board of Directors.

Johnson serves as Chief People and Places Officer of Okta, Inc., an identity management software provider, where she has overseen the company’s continuing hyper-growth, from 500 to 4,000+ employees worldwide. During her career, Johnson has led more than ten mergers and acquisitions and integrations—including six full scale HR integration acquisitions. She also managed the HR function during Okta’s successful IPO in 2017.

Prior to Okta, Johnson was the Director of International Human Resources at EnerNOC, Inc., a provider of demand response solutions and energy intelligence software, where she managed a team of ten HR business partners across seven countries.

Sources: Everest Re, W.R. Berkley Corp., Pie Insurance