AXA XL Presents New Leadership Team for Americas

July 27, 2020

As part of the proposed changes to its insurance operating model announced in April, AXA XL has appointed its new Americas leadership team, reporting to Joe Tocco, chief executive officer for the Americas.

The appointments include:

  • Donna Nadeau to chief underwriting officer. Nadeau steps into this new role from her current position as AXA XL’s chief operating officer in North America, a position she has held since 2014. Since joining AXA XL in 2003, she’s held several senior-level positions including serving as chief actuary for AXA XL’s North America property/casualty insurance operations. Her previous employers include Kemper and Liberty Mutual. Jerome Itty, who joins AXA XL from AXA Partners where he recently served as Head of Asia, assumes Nadeau’s former role as chief operating officer.
  • Bob Peretti to chief distribution officer. Since 2015, Peretti has led AXA XL’s North America Client and Distribution Management team. In his new role, he will continue to lead client and broker distribution but also expands his responsibilities to include global management of key broker relationships. He also assumes management of the Americas marketing function in close collaboration with the global marketing function. Earlier in his career, Peretti worked at Zurich for more than five years and spent almost 19 years at Marsh.

AXA XL Forms New Leadership Team, Aims to Restructure with Regional Business Units Key proposed changes to the operating model include the creation of a single global insurance Underwriting Function and the establishment of three geographical Business Units across the Americas, Eurasia, and the UK & Lloyd’s market. AXA XL Announces Leadership Team for UK & Lloyd’s Region

  • Jim DiVirgilio as chief claims officer. Since joining AXA XL in 2008, DiVirgilio has held senior claims management positions, most recently leading AXA XL’s claims management activity across North America. He brings 35 years of experience handling the complex claims across property, casualty, professional and specialty insurance lines. Prior to joining XL, he was with Travelers for 24 years.

AXA XL’s new regional structure also included the creation of three zones in the U.S. – East, Central and West – and the appointments of three executives to lead business activity in each zone. The new zonal appointments include:

  • Matt O’Malley as head of the East U.S. zone, based in New York. During his 25-year tenure in the insurance industry, O’Malley has held numerous underwriting and management positions, most recently managing AXA XL’s Casualty E&S and Environmental business in the U.S.
  • Todd Sutherland as head of the Central U.S. Zone, based in Chicago. Sutherland joined AXA XL in 2018 as North Central Regional leader. He brings more than 27 years of insurance industry experience to this new role. During his career, he has also worked at Allied World and AIG.
  • Mike Soper as head of the West U.S. Zone, based in San Francisco. Since 2016, when he joined as Western Regional leader, Soper has led AXA XL’s Client and Distribution Management team and its regional growth throughout the western states. Soper has 25+ years in the insurance industry. He joined AXA from Zurich Insurance.

These newly created roles join Tocco’s Americas country management team which also includes Patrick Tannock as country manager, Bermuda; Urs Uhlmann as country manager, Canada; and Renato Rodrigues as regional manager, Latin America.

The Americas region includes AXA XL’s collective property, casualty, professional and specialty insurance and risk management resources in the U.S., Canada, Bermuda and Latin America, including Brazil and Mexico.

Topics USA Excess Surplus Leadership Market AXA XL

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