Laura Herubin, IRUA President
Vice President Underwriting – N. America
MAPFRE Re North America
lherubin@mapfre.com
Laura Herubin is a Vice President and Property Underwriter with MAPFRE Re, North America. She joined MAPFRE Re in 2002 as an Assistant Vice President.
Laura began her career with the Utica National Insurance Group in 1988 as an underwriting trainee. She then joined Guy Carpenter, NY working in their statistical department. She was an underwriter with NorthStar/Signet Star Re, an Associate Underwriter with TIG Re and an AVP with Gerling Global Re before joining MAPFRE Re.
Laura received her Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics with a concentration in Business/Economics from SUNY at Potsdam. Laura is a member of the APIW and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the IRUA and is a member of the IRUA Education, Conference and Scholars Committees.
William Bernens, IRUA Vice President
Managing Director – Property & Specialty
Arch Reinsurance Company
wbernens@archreco.com
Bill Bernens is Managing Director, Property and Specialty at Arch Reinsurance Company in Morristown, NJ responsible for the underwriting, pricing and account management of property and program opportunities. Bill also worked as Director of Corporate Risk for Arch Capital Group in Hamilton, Bermuda focusing on risk management, market/industry analysis and capital modeling.
Prior to joining Arch, Bill was the Manager of Consulting Services at AIR Worldwide, a catastrophe modeling company in Boston, MA. Bill has 15 years of insurance industry experience and holds an MBA/MS from Boston University. Before starting his corporate career, Bill served as an officer in the United States Navy.
Christiane Gross, IRUA Vice President
Senior Vice President – Property UW Team Lead Fac Programs
Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.
Christiane.gross@munichre.com
Christiane Gross is a Senior Vice President and Property Underwriting Team Lead at Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. in Princeton, NJ. Christiane started her career with Munich Re in Germany in 2002, first in Munich’s Industrial Clients division and later in Munich’s Global Clients/ North America division, holding various property facultative and treaty underwriting positions.
Christiane relocated to Munich Re America in 2014 to service Regional Clients in the United States as a Property Treaty Underwriter. In 2018 she became a Team Lead for Property Facultative and Reinsurance Program business. She holds a degree in international business from the Reutlingen University in Germany. She is a member of the APIW and serves on the Board of the IRUA. In November 2019 Christiane assumed the role of IRUA’s Corporate Treasurer, thus joining the Executive Committee. In April 2021 she was elected to IRUA Vice President and will continue her role as Co-Chair of the IRUA Education Committee.
Tim Poeton
Senior Vice President – Business Development
State National Companies
tpoeton@statenational.com
Tim Poeton rejoined the board in 2019 and assumed the role of IRUA Corporate Secretary in November 2019. He is Senior Vice President – Business Development for State National Companies. He is a 30 year plus veteran of the U.S. reinsurance market having previously holding executive positions with Greig Fester, Guy Carpenter, Cambridge Risk Management and G.J. Sullivan Re.
Dwayne E. Elliott
Vice President-Underwriting and Marketing
American Agricultural Insurance Company
delliott@aaic.com
Andrew L. Downing
Aldowning64@yahoo.com
Andrew Downing was until recently a Senior Vice President of Tysers Re. Tysers is a 200 year old UK based specialist intermediary. Previously, he held the position of President of Stonybrook Risk Management. Mr. Downing’s focus is on providing value-added services to his clients and prospects with the emphasis on the insurance carrier and MGA marketplace, InsurTech, Product Development, Alternative Risk, Captive Services Reinsurance and strategic advisory.
Mr. Downing has over 33 years of experience in the banking and reinsurance industry and served as a Senior Vice President – Brokerage for JLT Re (North America) Inc. Prior to JLT Re, Mr. Downing held various positions at E.W. Blanch, Towers Watson and Towers Perrin, where he was elected a Principal of the firm.
Responsibilities include working closely with Capital Markets, Strategic Advisory, Structured Risk and Exposure Management to provide turnkey solutions to clients and prospects through all phases of the risk management process within the reinsurance and insurance marketplace. Strengths include management, leadership, negotiation and strategic planning.
Mr. Downing holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance with a Minor in Communications from Metropolitan State University of Minnesota and previously served as IRUA’s President. In addition, Mr. Downing is a current member of the John Street Insurance Association.
Abigail Allen
VP- General Casualty & Healthcare Liability
Partner Re US
abigail.allen@partnerre.com
Abigail (Abbey) Allen currently holds the position of VP of the U.S Casualty & Healthcare Liability team at Partner Re US. Abby has been with PartnerRe since 2007, and spent her first nine years in the Financial Reporting/Corporate Accounting Department before transferring into Underwriting in late 2017.
Prior to PartnerRe, Abbey worked for a short time in Public Accounting for PWC, one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms. She earned my B.A. from Boston College; MSA in Accounting from Boston College and my MBA from Fairfield University.
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Dawnmarie Black
Regional Director – Northeast US
Lloyd’s America, Inc.
dawnmarie.black@lloyds.com
Dawnmarie, an accomplished broker and underwriter, joined Lloyd’s in 2018 from London broker BMS Group, where she served as a Senior Vice President on the Risk Solutions team. In her role as Northeast Regional Director, she is responsible for market development activities in a 12-state region stretching from Maryland and Washington, D.C. to Maine. She is also responsible for the Broker Practice group strategy nationally.
Dawnmarie brings more than 20 years of experience, having served in senior leadership roles with Ascot, Aon Benfield, AIG, and Chubb. Most recently, in her four years with BMS Group, Dawnmarie was instrumental in market development and production efforts across multiple product lines. She focused on program business, having produced and managed her own portfolio of programs and also served as Target Markets liaison for BMS Re US.
Dawnmarie has her Bachelor of Arts degree from Allegheny College. She is actively involved in insurance industry philanthropic efforts and currently serves as Vice Chair of the IICF Boston Board and is actively involved in charitable work through the Covenant House.
Ryan Chefalas
Vice President, Property Treaty Underwriting
Odyssey Reinsurance Company
rchefalas@odysseyre.com
Ryan Chefalas is an Assistant Vice President and Senior Underwriter for OdysseyRe based in Stamford, CT. He is responsible for underwriting both Property and Marine Treaty business. Ryan has nine years of total experience working in the Insurance/Reinsurance industry.
Prior to joining OdysseyRe, Ryan worked at Starr Companies in a variety of roles. Most recently, he worked on their Large Commercial Property Underwriting team based out of NY. In addition, he also spent several years working in Starr’s Catastrophe Modeling and Loss Control Engineering departments.
Ryan holds a Master’s Degree from St. John’s University in Enterprise Risk Management and a Bachelor’s Degree from Adelphi University in Mathematics.
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Philip Clancey
Managing Director – N.A. Strategic Advisory
Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC
Philip.Clancey@guycarp.com
Phil is a Managing Director at Guy Carpenter and leads ERM Advisory within GC’s North America Strategic Advisory Team.
Phil has over 30 years of broad financial services and risk management experience spanning global (re)insurance and banking, including leadership roles in actuarial, treasury, enterprise risk, regulatory compliance, and operational risk. Immediately prior to joining Guy Carpenter, Phil served as Chief Actuary & Risk Officer for the American P&I Club, a member of the International Group of P&I Clubs.
Phil is an Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society, Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and holds a B.A. in Financial Administration from Michigan State University.
Keith Cartmell
Senior Vice President – Property Treaty Underwriting
The Toa Reinsurance Company of America
kcartmell@toare.com
Keith Cartmell is a Senior Vice President and Property Treaty Reinsurance Underwriter for Toa Reinsurance Company of America, based in the Morristown, New Jersey office. He joined Toa in 2020 after 16+ years with Sirius Group. Keith joined Folksamerica Re (a predecessor company of the Sirius Group) in 2004 in their Claims Department. He transitioned to Property Treaty Underwriting in 2007 and held various positions within the underwriting department during that time. Keith graduated from Boston University in 2001.
Nick Cook
Chief Risk Officer
Crum & Forster Wholesale E&S
nick.cook@cfins.com
Nick Cook is Chief Risk Officer at Crum & Forster in the Morristown, NJ office. Previously, he held the position of Senior Vice President and Head of Ceded Reinsurance and advanced to his new position in January 2020. Prior responsibilities at Crum & Forster include leading the Small Business Team as well as working with the Actuarial, Underwriting and Operations teams to implement submission scoring, risk selection and pricing tools for the E&S Casualty division.
Before joining Crum & Forster, Nick held treaty underwriting roles at OdysseyRe, most recently serving as a Vice President working with clients in the U.S and Bermuda casualty markets. Nick is a graduate of Georgetown University and holds the CPCU and ARe designations. He resides in Stamford, CT.
Sam DeGiovanni CPCU, ARe, RPLU
Vice President – Senior Casualty Underwriter
Ryan Re Underwriting Managers
sam.degiovanni@ryansg.com
Sam DeGiovanni began his career in the reinsurance industry in 2009 as part of Aspen Re’s graduate training scheme before assuming full-time positions in Aspen’s US casualty facultative and treaty teams underwriting casualty and professional lines reinsurance.
In May 2020, Sam joined the newly launched Ryan Re team and currently serves as VP and Senior Casualty Underwriter.
Sam graduated magna cum laude from Boston College with a degree in Economics and Hispanic Studies and has been a member of the IRUA board of directors since 2018.
Meghan DiBona, CPCU, ARe, RPLU
Vice President – Casualty Facultative Manager
Aspen Re
meghan.dibona@aspen-re.com
Meghan’s current role is Vice President, Casualty Facultative Manager at Aspen Re America. She is a Casualty Facultative Underwriter writing Auto Liability, General Liability, and Excess/Umbrella Liability. Meghan joined Aspen in August 2012 and has earned her CPCU, ARe and RPLU professional designations. She values both the analytical and client-facing aspects of underwriting.
Meghan strives to provide clients with high quality and personal service while maintaining a profitable book of business. She also takes on additional responsibilities such as leading Management Information Reporting for the Casualty Facultative team and is a member of various committees such as the Social Committee and an Advocacy Program within Aspen.
Brendan Furlong
Assistant VP – Senior Casualty Treaty Underwriter
Odyssey Reinsurance Company
bfurlong@odysseyre.com
Brendan Furlong is an Assistant Secretary and Senior Treaty Underwriter at OdysseyRe. Brendan’s areas of underwriting focus include Umbrella, General Liability, Personal and Commercial Auto, and Environmental Liability. He manages a wide variety of accounts within Odyssey’s General Casualty business unit and works with clients ranging from small regional carriers to large international carriers.
Brendan holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Associate in Reinsurance (ARe) designations from The Institutes and graduated from The Fox School of Business at Temple University with a Bachelors of Business Management in Risk Management and Insurance and a minor in Accounting. In addition to the IRUA, Brendan is a member of the John Street Insurance Club.
Joshua Hackett
Managing Director -Head of Casualty
Arch Reinsurance Company
jhackett@archreco.com
Joshua Hackett was appointed Chief Underwriting Officer – Casualty & Specialty effective 1.1.2022. Previously he served as Managing Director- Head of Casualty at Arch Reinsurance Co and has over 10 years of insurance, reinsurance, and financial services experience.
Josh began his career with Zurich Financial Services as an underwriting trainee in their Global Associate Program focusing on large commercial property insurance. He then joined Endurance Re (Sompo) as a reinsurance treaty casualty underwriter where he became an AVP. Josh moved on to become a sell-side equity associate focusing on the insurance sector at Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research, until ultimately returning to the reinsurance field as Vice President of Broker Treaty Casualty at Swiss Reinsurance.
Josh received a Masters International Affairs from University of California, San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Political Science from University of Delaware. He holds the CPCU and ARe designations, and has passed the Series 7, 63, 87 licensing exams.
Elizabeth M. Hodge
Vice President – Senior Property Treaty Underwriting
SCOR Reinsurance Company
ehodge@scor.com
Elizabeth (Liz) Hodge is currently Vice President, Senior Property Treaty Underwriter at SCOR Reinsurance Company located in the New York Office. She has over 25 years of experience working in the reinsurance industry which the last four years have been with SCOR Re.
Prior to joining SCOR in 2017, she spent almost 10 years at Everest Reinsurance Company in Liberty Corner, New Jersey, where she was Vice President, Property Treaty and Cat Underwriter, responsible for the development and management of a $90 million portfolio of Property Risk, Catastrophe and Crop business.
Liz began her career as an Underwriting Assistant at Zurich Re and later moved to XL Re where she worked as a Contract Analyst, Executive Reporting Analyst and then moved to Folksamerica where she worked as a Property Underwriter. She then spent a couple of years working at RMS as a Senior Account Manager supporting brokers like Guy Carpenter and Gallagher with their catastrophe modelling needs prior to joining Everest.
In addition to her professional career, she has held multiple board positions at the West Milford Police Athletic League and is currently the Treasurer of the Greenwood Lake Skate Park Corp., a community non-profit working to build a local skatepark in the Village of Greenwood Lake, New York.
Liz holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Bloomfield College, Bloomfield, New Jersey.
Danny Hojnowski
Senior Vice President – US Casualty E&O Underwriting
Transatlantic Reinsurance Company
dhojnowski@transre.com
Danny Hojnowski is a Senior Vice President at TransRe in the Specialty Casualty Underwriting unit with a focus on E&O, D&O and Cyber treaties. During his 15 years at TransRe Danny has also worked in the facultative unit where he underwrote individual Professional Liability risks. In addition to working as an underwriter, he is responsible for monitoring TransRe’s aggregate exposure across their global Professional Liability book of business and in 2021 was named US D&O/E&O Treaty Department Manager. Danny was instrumental in implementing TransRe’s “Entity Data Analytics” which allows TransRe to analyze exposure and pricing across their portfolio by aggregating individual policy level details.
Prior to joining TransRe, Danny was a D&O underwriter at Ace American Insurance Company in New York and a facultative underwriter at Everest Re based in both New York and Bermuda.
Rob Martin
VP Reinsurance Division
Famers Mutual Hail Insurance Company of IA
rob@fmh.com
Rob has been with FMH for 17 years and brings over 25 years of insurance experience to his role as Vice President of Reinsurance. Prior to his time at FMH, he worked as a Claims Adjuster for EMC Insurance Company and as a Workers’ Compensation Adjuster for Liberty Mutual. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa and holds his INS and AFIS designations.
Rob and his wife Renae enjoy watching their daughter, Rylie, and their son, Brady, play soccer. They also love taking family bike rides and cheering on the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Julie A. McLoughlin
Managing Director
Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC
julie.a.mcloughlin@guycarp.com
Julie is a Managing Director at Guy Carpenter with over 12 years of experience. She is responsible for treaty account management for various clients across multiple lines of business.
Julie graduated from Fairfield University with a degree in business management, has completed the Guy Carpenter training program and earned the ARe, AIS, ARM & CPCU designations. Julie has served on the IRUA Education Committee and Board of Directors since 2015.
Kevin Rentko
Senior Vice President – Head of General Casualty
Renaissance Re US
krentko@renre.com
Michael Schummer, ACAS, MAAA
Senior Vice President, Casualty Team Lead
Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.
mschummer@munichre.com
Michael Schummer was born and raised in Philadelphia and graduated from Temple University’s Actuarial program in 1991. He worked at several large national writers in an actuarial capacity, supporting pricing and operations in the field. After a short stint in Northern California, he moved to American Re (now Munich Re) in Princeton, still in an Actuarial capacity. Michael moved to underwriting in 2002 and currently has the role of Senior Vice President and a Casualty Team Lead in the Treaty area.
Steven G. Simmons
Senior Director – Property
Markel Specialty
Steven.Simmons@Markel.com
Steven G. Simmons previously held the position of Senior Vice President and Head of NY Working Property Treaty of Sirius International Managers, LLC. Sirius was renamed SiriusPoint following the February 2021 merger of Sirius Group and Third Point Reinsurance.
Mr. Simmons has over 29 years’ experience in the insurance/reinsurance industry of which the last four years have been with the Sirius Group (including Sirius America Insurance Company) (“Sirius”).
Prior to joining Sirius in 2016, Mr. Simmons spent 14 years at Partner Reinsurance Company in Greenwich, CT, where he was Senior Vice President and Senior Underwriter, responsible for the development and management of a $75 million individual property treaty portfolio.
Mr. Simmons began his career as Senior Accountant/Auditor with Ernst & Young, and later moved to XL (NAC Re), where he launched his career in reinsurance in the finance area, as Senior Auditor and Officer. He later transferred to underwriting as Property Facultative Underwriter and Officer in NAC Re’s Chicago branch office.
Mr. Simmons has earned the CPCU and ARe designations. He holds a BBA from Iona College and is also a CPA.
Patrick Talley
Central US Regional Director
Lloyd’s America, Inc.
pat.talley@lloyds.com
Pat joined Lloyd’s in 2006 and serves as Central Region Director. He also leads Lloyd’s Managing Agent Practice in the US. In these capacities he provides educational and market development outreach to Lloyd’s stakeholders throughout the country. Pat is also responsible for overseeing Lloyd’s three U.S. licenses – in Illinois, Kentucky and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He serves as President of Lloyd’s Illinois, Inc. and Lloyd’s Kentucky, Inc., the corporate attorneys-in-fact for the three licensed platforms.
Pat has nearly 30 years of experience in the insurance and securities industry, in both the regulatory and commercial environments. He spent eight years in a consulting capacity as Chief Financial Analyst at the Kentucky Department of Insurance. While there, he was instrumental in establishing Kentucky’s captive insurance program, and also represented Kentucky on various task forces and working groups of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Prior to that, Pat served as Vice President of Trading and Operations for Commonwealth Investment Group, a Louisville, Kentucky-based institutional broker/dealer.
Pat has a double major in Finance and Economics from the University of Kentucky. He serves on the Insurance Advisory Board of Executives of the Illinois State University Katie School of Insurance and Financial Services, is a member of the Advisory Board of Eastern Kentucky University’s School of Risk Management, the Midwest Chapter Board of Directors of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation and the Board of Directors of the Kentucky Insurance Guaranty Association.
Jennifer Uy
Assistant Vice President – Reinsurance Underwriter
Mapfre Re
juy@mapfre.com
Jennifer Uy is an Assistant Vice President Reinsurance Underwriter at MAPFRE Re, North America based in New Jersey, USA. She started her career with MAPFRE Primary Insurance in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
In 2006, Jennifer relocated and joined MAPFRE Re, North America as a Corporate Accountant. She progressively assumed major responsibilities and was named Senior Underwriter and Crop Specialist managing Property and Agro treaty portfolios in the United States and Canada. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Navarra’s School of Economics and Business in Pamplona, Spain.
Ryan Walsh
Reinsurance Underwriting Manager
EMC Re
ryan.p.welch@emcins.com
Ryan joined EMC Re in 2018 and is currently Reinsurance Underwriting Manager of Domestic business and is based in the Kansas City area. Ryan has 20+ years of experience in the reinsurance and insurance industry. Prior to EMC Re he worked in various positions for Rockhill Insurance, the specialty division of State Auto. Ryan began his career with Swiss Re in Treaty Underwriting. Ryan graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in Accounting and Finance.
Carl Weinberger
Casualty Treaty Underwriting Team Lead
Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.
cweinberger@munichre.com
Carl Weinberger is originally from Stockholm, Sweden and graduated with a Master of Laws from the University of Stockholm. He started his career in the insurance industry in 1994 working for Gerling Konzern Allgemeine in Cologne, Germany. After 8 years on the insurance side, which allowed him to work in different Casualty Underwriting roles across the globe in Germany, Hong Kong, the US and Sweden, Carl moved into reinsurance in 2003, when he joined ERC/Frankona in Munich, Germany.
In 2006, Carl moved to the US working for Swiss Re. In 2011 he moved back to Europe to become Munich Re’s UK General Branch’s Casualty Manager in London, UK.
Carl has been back in the US since 2017 and currently holds the position of Senior Vice President and Casualty Underwriting Manager in the treaty area for Munich Re in Princeton
John West
Senior Vice President – Legacy Solutions/Captive Segment
Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC
john.west@guycarp.com
John’s career in insurance and reinsurance has spanned the spectrum from Accident and Health to Property, Casualty, Work Comp, Excess Work Comp, Occupational Accident. Has worked as an intermediary, broker, claims analyst, and consultant in
multiple other capacities. John was previously with the Devonshire Group, Axa LM, Helix UK, Alan Gray, Inc and LDG Re.
John’s current focus is on Liability Runoff Transfer, Captive Insurance, Reinsurance Audits and Commutation. Additionally, he participates or has participated at Director level for several non-profit organizations, including the IRUA, where he serves as the Co-Chair of the Education Committee.
James Wilson
Senior Vice President – Senior Underwriter Casualty
Partner Re US
james.wilson@partnerre.com
Jim Wilson has over 40 years in reinsurance, starting in Claims and moving into Underwriting in 1995. His tenure on the Underwriting side includes 9 years at Trenwick Re and 19 years at PartnerRe.
Jim started at PartnerRe in the Company’s Standard Lines Business Unit where he focused on multi-line and casualty business for regional and super regional clients. In 2015, he transferred to the Casualty Unit where he focuses on Umbrella, Workers’ Compensation and Medical Malpractice lines of business.
