Beazley kicks off new year with senior cyber hires

We are excited to announce the following underwriter appointments:

In January Molly Serven joined the Cyber & Tech team as an underwriter. She was previously on Beazley’s Underwriting & Claims Operations (UCO) team, where she oversaw the cyber claims assistants and breach assistants as an assistant UCO manager. She has been at Beazley since 2019, starting as a claims assistant on the employment practices liability team. Prior to joining to Beazley, Molly was an underwriting assistant at global insurer.

Teresa McKay is a middle market and large risk underwriter for Beazley’s International Cyber & Tech team.  She joined Beazley in 2021 and is located in the London office. Prior to Beazley, Teresa was a senior business analyst working in insurance and other financial institutions.

Raisa Abedin joined Beazley in December as an Cyber & Tech underwriter for Beazley in Canada. She joined Beazley from a global insurer where she held various underwriting roles. Raisa is based in Beazley’s Toronto office.

March 2, 2022

We are excited to announce a new structure for our International and London Market team that will focus on three regions – North America, including Canada, Europe/Asia & Rest of World. With this change we have three new appointments.

Lucy Cantlay has been appointed Focus Group Leader for London wholesale North America. Her primary focus will be underwriting large US and Canadian cyber liability risks. In addition, she is responsible for the middle market strategy across London cyber. Lucy joined the Cyber & Tech team at Beazley in 2013. In June 2020, Lucy became focus group leader for wholesale middle market business in London and for both US and International cyber business.

Sydonie Williams is now the Focus Group Leader for Rest of World wholesale. She is based in London and her primary focus is underwriting large international cyber liability and E&O risks. In addition, she has a focus on business interruption and physical damage coverages. Since September 2019 Sydonie was an underwriter in the International large risks Cyber & Tech team. Prior to joining Beazley, Sydonie spent the previous 9 years writing property and marine reinsurance in both the International and US markets.

Jimaan Sane has been appointed Focus Group Leader for Europe and Asia. His primary focus will be underwriting large European and Asian cyber liability risks.  Jimaan joined Beazley in December 2012 as an underwriter within the Large Accounts Cyber & Tech team. Prior to joining Beazley, Jimaan worked as an energy underwriter in Paris, with a particular focus on renewables.

February 25, 2022

We are excited to announce that Serene Davis has been appointed regional manager for the newly formed Western region. This new region comprises the previous Northwest, Southwest, and South Central regions. Serene joined Beazley in 2006 and has 20 years of insurance experience, originally beginning her career in risk management and then moving on to underwriting. Serene reports to Patricia Kocsondy, who joined Beazley in July 2021 as Head of US Cyber & Tech. Serene’s role marks the latest in a series of changes to the US Cyber &Tech leadership team. Desirée Spain was appointed Southeast Regional Manager in September 2021 and Justin Patrick Head of US Large Accounts in May of 2021. In addition, Rich Michaels, has been appointed Assistant Regional Manager for the Midwest team, reporting to Brett Kreiter, Midwest Regional Manager, effective January 2022. Serene, Desirée, Brett and Justin, along with Kyle Sawdey, Northeast Regional Manager, form the US Cyber & Tech management team, reporting to Patricia Kocsondy.
 

February 22, 2022

Meghan Hannes has been appointed to Head of US Underwriting Management and Aidan Flynn as Head of London and International Underwriting Management. Meghan joined Beazley earlier this year and has 18+ years experience in cyber, media, tech errors and omissions (E&O) and professional liability. Prior to joining Beazley she was a cyber & technology E&O product head at a global insurer and previously held various underwriting positions. Aidan has 19 years experience underwriting London Market E&O and cyber liability. He joined Beazley in September 2016 to underwrite US domiciled risks and since 2020 has led the E&O strategy for Cyber & Tech. Meghan and Aidan will report to Bob Wice, Global Head of Cyber & Tech Underwriting Management, and both will oversee the strategic development and delivery of tools to support and inform underwriting actions.

February 16, 2022

Beazley, a market leader in cyber insurance, has announced two senior leadership hires to its global Cyber Services team. Russ Cohen has been appointed Head of US Cyber Services, and Bala Larson joins as Head of Client Experience. Russ will oversee risk management and incident response functions in the US, while Bala will work to ensure that Beazley continues delivering the best possible services to its cyber clients.

Russ has been helping organizations prevent cyber losses and business interruption for over 25 years, most recently at Chubb, where he pioneered the integration of digital servicing technologies to deliver cyber threat insights to customers and played a pivotal role in the company’s enhanced incident response and loss mitigation service offerings.

A Beazley employee of 15 years, Bala joined in 2007 as a middle market specialty lines underwriter. Currently managing the Northwest Region while also underwriting strategic large accounts for the region’s top broker partners, Bala is perfectly poised to transfer her substantial experience to heading up Client Experience.

Commenting on the appointments, Raf Sanchez, Global Head of Cyber Services, said: “As the cyber risk landscape continues to evolve, organizations need to ensure their technology and risk management tools remain a top priority. Beazley has continued to innovate throughout the pandemic, to ensure this need is always met, despite changes to working practices and increased ransomware attacks. I am excited to welcome Russ and Bala into the team, as we continue to develop innovative solutions, equipping clients with the best possible risk management tools.”

Paul Bantick, Global Head of Cyber & Technology, added: “Both Russ and Bala bring a wealth of experience in the cyber security and technology space; exactly the kind of expertise that gives Beazley the edge when it comes to cyber risk and our evolving ecosystem. I and am very much looking forward to working with them as we further develop our team.”

Russ will be based in Philadelphia, while Bala will be based out of Beazley’s San Francisco office.