People Moves: Beazley Promotes Turk to Head of Strategy; Everest Hires Chubb’s McBride as Head of Claims; Pen Names Hiscox’s Dixon as Head of Tech

This edition of International People Moves details promotions and appointments at three insurers: Beazley, Everest Insurance and MGA Pen Underwriting.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Beazley Promotes Turk as Group Head of Strategy

Beazley, the London-based insurer, has announced that Rachel Turk has been appointed group head of Strategy. She will also join the executive committee with immediate effect.

Previously, Turk held the role of head of Corporate Development.

Turk joined Beazley in 2009 as a D&O underwriter in Specialty Lines, becoming Focus Group leader in 2015, and was appointed head of Corporate Development in 2019. Prior to joining Beazley, Turk held equity and finance analyst roles and she is a qualified chartered accountant.

In addition to her role at Beazley, Turk also sits on the board of the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA).

“This is a very well-deserved promotion. Since 2019, Rachel has been working with the executive helping us to develop and refine our corporate strategy, as well as developing plans to ensure that we deliver on our corporate objectives,” commented Adrian Cox, Beazley CEO.

“Over the past couple of years Rachel has driven a number of key development activities, including identifying growth opportunities in existing markets via mergers and acquisitions. She has also been instrumental in the creation and success of our incubation underwriting team, which is at the forefront of exploring new products and services,” Cox added.

Everest Insurance Names Former Chubb Exec McBride as Global Head of Claims

Everest Insurance, the primary insurance division of Everest Re Group Ltd, announced that Andrew McBride has been named senior vice president, global head of Claims.

In his role, McBride will be responsible for leading the strategic oversight and holistic management of all aspects of commercial insurance claims operations globally. As part of the division’s senior leadership team, he will work to further streamline and drive efficiencies in the claims processes, with continued investment in advanced data and analytics.

Based in London, McBride will report directly to Mike Karmilowicz, President and CEO, Everest Insurance.

McBride brings Everest deep experience with a demonstrated track record of industry success spanning four decades. Most recently, he served as executive vice president of Claims at Chubb, where he was responsible for the management of all aspects of claims across Chubb’s international businesses. Prior to that, McBride led the management of all claims and related issues as director of Claims at QBE’s European Operations. Earlier in his career, he served in various roles managing claims at Aon and AXA Group overseas. McBride graduated from Leicester University with a degree in law.

MGA Pen Appoints Hiscox’s Dixon to Newly Created Role of Head of Technology

Pen Underwriting has appointed Tom Dixon has been appointed to the newly created role of head of Technology. Dixon joins Pen on Sept. 23 to drive the development of innovative new insurance solutions that support the rapid growth of the technology sector in the UK.

He will report into Adrian Scott, managing director of International & Financial Lines at Pen Underwriting.

Highly respected and exceptionally well-connected in the tech insurance sector, Dixon joins from Hiscox where, as head of Technology, he has led its UK & Ireland technology practice since the beginning of 2018. Prior to that he held a range of underwriting, business development and leadership roles focused on professional indemnity (PI) and the wider field of specialist commercial insurance since joining the company in 2009.

At Pen, Dixon will build and develop a comprehensive PI-led portfolio of risk solutions tailored to meet the complex and fast-evolving needs of a broad spectrum of technology companies ranging from software developers, internet service providers and GDPR consultants, to specialists in blockchain, artificial intelligence and data analytics.

“No sector will be as pivotal to the future success of the UK economy as technology. The pandemic has only hastened the extent of its influence in what was already one of our fastest growing industries, with the UK’s technology sector securing one-third of all European tech investments back in 2019,” commented Scott.

“The fact that 10% of current UK job vacancies are for tech jobs also speaks volumes about the strength, resilience and upward projection of the digital economy,” he added.

“Yet compared to the size of the opportunity, there are relatively few insurance providers specialising in this sector, creating untapped demand. Brokers are looking for greater choice, empowered underwriters, cutting-edge wordings and a problem-solving approach that will give them a competitive advantage.”

Scott said that Pen intends to build Pen into a top tier tech insurer in the UK.

A subsidiary of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Pen Underwriting is a multi-class, multi-territory MGA that operates as a virtual insurer, meaning it can fulfil all the typical functions of an insurance company — from sales, distribution, pricing and product innovation through to claims, analytics and governance — except carry risk. Pen Underwriting has five divisions: International & Financial Lines, Specialty Lines, Public Sector, Delegated Solutions and eSME.