PIA’s Donnelly to Head New Hiscox U.S. Office; Ward, Chavez Also Join

Hiscox plc has announced a number of appointments to expand its presence and distribution in the U.S. market.

Ed Donnelly joins Hiscox with immediate effect in the newly-created position of president of Hiscox USA. He will report to the director of underwriting, Robert Childs, and be based in Armonk, New York.

Hiscox had previously announced its intention to open a Hiscox office in the U.S. and Donnelly will head this up with an opening scheduled for early 2006. He will also be in charge of launching Hiscox’s specialist products for businesses outside the Fortune 1000 that are placed through U.S.-based local and regional brokers.

Donnelly has more than 21 years of underwriting experience from roles at AIG and Professional Indemnity Agency, owned by Houston Casualty. Most recently, as senior vice president with PIA, he managed a book of non-traditional professional indemnity business.

Separately, Hiscox has also made two other appointments to develop its distribution network for Fortune 1000 risks in the U.S. Both these roles are focused on targeting large international insurance coverage placed in London via global broker networks.

Nick Ward has been promoted to the newly created position of global markets development underwriter for Hiscox Syndicate 33. Based in the U.S., this role will involve the development of new and servicing of existing business across all lines placed into Syndicate 33 via the London broker network. Ward previously ran the global markets professional indemnity account for Syndicate 33 and has been at Hiscox for almost eight years.

David Chavez joins Hiscox as U.S. technology underwriter. He will work with the global markets team to develop their relationships with brokers and clients in the U.S. Chavez joins from PeoplesoftInc where he was assistant general counsel.

Hiscox plc is a specialist insurance group listed on the London Stock Exchange. There are three main underwriting parts of the group – Global Markets, U.K. and International Retail. The Global Markets business underwrites, via Syndicate 33, mainly internationally traded business in the London Market – generally large or complex business which needs to be shared with other insurers or needs the international licences of Lloyd’s. The U.K. business offers specialist insurance for professionals and business customers, as well as high net worth individuals. It has regional offices in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Maidenhead and Colchester. The European business has offices in Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Brussels and Guernsey and writes mainly high value household business and some specialist professional indemnity business. Guernsey underwrites kidnap and ransom business and fine art. For further information, go to www.hiscox.com

Topics USA Underwriting London