AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (“AXIS Capital” or “the Company”)
(NYSE:AXS) announced today that John (“Jack”) Gressier, currently the
Chief Executive Officer of AXIS Insurance, will become AXIS Capital’s
new Chief Operating Officer effective April 1, 2014. Mr. Gressier will
assume the responsibilities of retiring Chief Operating Officer Dennis
Reding.
In his new role, Mr. Gressier will oversee the Company’s global
insurance operations, including broker relationships and distribution
management, reinsurance purchasing and corporate risk protection
activities. In addition, he will also have responsibility for the
Company’s growing Accident & Health business, which provides accident,
specialty health and travel-related insurance and reinsurance solutions
on a worldwide basis. Mr. Gressier will continue to be based in London
and report to Albert Benchimol, President and Chief Executive Officer of
AXIS Capital.
Mr. Reding, who has served as AXIS Capital’s Chief Operating Officer
since 2007, has been named Senior Advisor to the Company and will
continue as a member of AXIS Capital’s Executive Committee.
Peter Wilson, currently President of U.S. Insurance at AXIS Insurance,
will succeed Mr. Gressier as Chief Executive Officer of AXIS Insurance,
with overall responsibility for the general management and business
results of AXIS Capital’s global property and casualty insurance
operations. Mr. Wilson will continue to be based in New York and will
report to Mr. Gressier.
Commenting on the appointments, Albert Benchimol, President and CEO of
AXIS Capital, remarked, “Having worked closely with Jack for several
years, I have developed tremendous confidence in his management prowess,
leadership skills and underwriting expertise. His contributions as an
architect of our international insurance platform have been invaluable
to the growth and success of our organization. He is exceptionally
well-suited to assume this critical role at AXIS Capital and take on
responsibility for some of our most important strategic initiatives.”
Mr. Benchimol continued, “I am also very happy to announce Peter’s new
role, and have every confidence in his ability to lead our insurance
team globally in continued profitable growth. We are fortunate to have
such a deep bench of talented executives such as Jack and Peter, who
have the insurance expertise and track record of success that enables
them to step into these roles and ensure the continued high performance.”
Commenting on Mr. Reding’s new role upon his retirement as COO, Mr.
Benchimol stated, “Dennis Reding’s contributions during his tenure at
AXIS Capital cannot be overstated. He established our Company’s U.S.
operations and has been an integral part of our growth since he joined
AXIS in 2002. We are fortunate for the time he served as our Chief
Operating Officer, and more fortunate that we will have his continued
presence at AXIS Capital as a Senior Advisor and member of our Executive
Committee. I look forward to his ongoing counsel and support.”
John "Jack" W. Gressier Background:
John "Jack" W. Gressier is currently Chief Executive Officer of AXIS
Insurance. Mr. Gressier has retained management responsibility for AXIS
Capital’s international insurance operations since early 2002, shortly
after the Company’s founding, and all insurance operations since 2007.
Mr. Gressier has over 27 years of experience in the insurance industry.
Prior to joining AXIS Capital, he served as an underwriter at Charman
Underwriting Agencies from 1989 until 1998, when ACE Limited acquired
that entity. At ACE, Mr. Gressier served as Deputy Underwriter of
Syndicates 488/2488, Director of ACE Global Markets Underwriting
Limited, Director of Marine and Specialty Lines for Syndicate 2488 and a
member of ACE Global Markets Executive Underwriting Committee. In
February 2001, Mr. Gressier was appointed Joint Active Underwriter of
Syndicate 2488 and director of the ACE Agency Board, where he served
until joining AXIS in 2002.
Peter Wilson Background:
Peter Wilson joined AXIS Capital in May 2013 as President of U.S.
Insurance. Prior to this, he served as President and Chief Operating
Officer for CNA Specialty, a unit of CNA Financial Corporation, which is
focused on professional and management liability, healthcare, surety and
other specialized insurance products and services. During his more than
20 years with CNA Financial Corporation, Mr. Wilson served in a number
of leadership positions and had management responsibility for a diverse
group of business units operating both in the U.S. and internationally.
At the time of his departure from CNA, the Specialty Lines operation
produced annual net premiums of $3 Billion. Prior to CNA, he served as
an Executive Vice President at AIG, where he managed AIG’s commercial
public D&O business in the U.S.
Dennis B. Reding Background:
Dennis B. Reding has served as Chief Operating Officer of AXIS Capital
since January 2007. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Reding served as
Chairman of AXIS Insurance since January 2005 and, from January 2003
until December 2004, he served as Chief Executive Officer of AXIS U.S.
Insurance. Mr. Reding has 44 years of industry experience. Mr. Reding
was President and Chief Executive Officer of Westchester Specialty Group
from 1992 to 1998. He then served as President and Chief Executive
Officer of ACE USA, Inc. from 1998 to 2001 and President of ACE INA
Holdings, Inc. from 2001 to 2002. Mr. Reding was Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Combined Specialty Group, Inc., an Aon subsidiary,
in 2002.
About AXIS Capital
AXIS Capital is a Bermuda-based global provider of specialty lines
insurance and treaty reinsurance with total shareholders’ equity
attributable to AXIS Capital at December 31, 2013 of $5.8 billion and
locations in Bermuda, the United States, Europe, Singapore, Canada,
Australia and Latin America. Its operating subsidiaries have been
assigned a rating of “A+” (“Strong”) by Standard & Poor’s and “A+”
(“Superior”) by A.M. Best. AXIS Capital and AXIS Specialty Finance LLC
have been assigned senior unsecured debt ratings of A- (stable) by
Standard & Poor’s and Baa1 (stable) by Moody’s Investors Service. For
more information about AXIS Capital, visit our website at www.axiscapital.com.
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