News
NEW IRUA MEMBER – EVEREST RE
IRUA is delighted to welcome the Everest Re Group as its latest members. As is well known, Everest is one of the world’s largest reinsurers and is based in Bermuda but with a significant presence at its Liberty Corner, New Jersey location.
November 2015
FIRST NEW LOOK SCHOLARS PROGRAM AWARDEES ANNOUNCED
The IRUA Scholars Committee had a difficult task in choosing the winning essays submitted by college students interning with IRUA member companies this past Summer and by a narrow margin the following awards were agreed:
FIRST PLACE ($7,000) – KATHRYN MARTINCIC for her paper entitled “Drones and Their Impact on the Insurance and Reinsurance Industry”. Katie attends Temple University and interned at Maiden Re.
SECOND PLACE ($5,000) – KELLY ANNE PETRARCA for her paper entitled “Autonomous Cars: An Emerging Risk”. Kelly Anne also attends Temple and interned at JLT Re.
THIRD PLACE ($3,000) – ALEXANDRA BERG for her paper “Insurance Implications of the Legalization of Marijuana”. There was something about Temple students this year as Alexandra also attends Temple and interned at Munich Re America.
Congratulations to the winners; Temple University; and our thanks to all the intern hosting companies.
For the unsuccessful participants we thank you for your excellent papers, too, and hope that you enjoyed the internship experience at an IRUA member company.
October 2015
ANOTHER NEW JOB POSTING!! – REINSURANCE ACCOUNT UNDERWRITER POSITION AVAILABLE AT EMC INSURANCE,DES MOINES,IA – deleted as the position is now filled
June 2015
ANNUAL MEETING & CONFERENCE SEES EXPANSION OF BOARD, NEW INITIATIVES, NEW OFFICERS AND AN EXCELLENT CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Once again the Annual Conference received very favorable reviews and an increased attendance were treated to a varied and interesting series of presentations as well as industry expert panels on the New Wave of Capital featuring noted CEOs and investment analysts. A further expert panel on Crop business was very popular as well. All speakers scored highly in the evaluation feedback.
At the Annual Meeting, Mike Sowa of Aspen Re was elected to serve as President.
Full details of the new slate of Officers and newly elected or re-elected Directors may be found on the Homepage and the new President’s Message may be found by clicking the homepage tab.
Members voted to increase the maximum allowable number of Directors to 36, thus allowing each Member, if they so wish, board representation and several members are now represented for the first time.
April 2015
NEW IRUA MEMBERS – THIRD POINT RE USA and SOMERSET HOLDINGS LTD.
IRUA is delighted to welcome two new members, Third Point Re, the well known and well respected Bermuda based reinsurer and now with a U.S. presence based in Short Hills, New Jersey. The other new member is Bermuda based intermediary, Somerset Holdings Ltd. Somerset is a full service reinsurance broker with principals having many years experience in the London and international markets.
April 2015
PROPORTIONAL & NON-PROPORTIONAL WORKSHOPS (FINALLY) WERE ALL HELD SUCCESSFULLY
The first 10 weeks of 2015 were not kind to our educational schedule and we had to postpone the late January event into early February and early March. In the end almost all our registrants were able to attend and the Advanced workshop squeaked by with, once again, snow threatening New York City. Thanks are due to our law firm hosts – KATTEN MUCHIN ROSENMAN and then SCHIFF HARDIN – for their flexibility and kind hospitality not to mention the perseverance of our registrants and instructor, John Chaplin, who once again received very favorable reviews.
March 2015
IRUA CONCLUDES A VERY ACTIVE EDUCATIONAL YEAR
With back to back seminars in Minneapolis early in October the IRUA concluded its most active year ever in educational seminars with 10 full days of instruction and several networking receptions offered. Seminars and workshops held in 2014 were:
Proportional & Non-Proportional Reinsurance Workshop
Reinsurance Audits – Underwriting and Claims
Next Generation Reinsurance Leadership Seminar
Making Sense of Actuarial Principles – in Chicago
Reinsurance Accounting – in Minneapolis
Making Sense of Catastrophe Model Output – in Minneapolis
In addition, we have teamed up with the long-time organizer of the Reinsurance Networking Group – a twenty years plus networking and educational group of reinsurance professionals who meet 3 or 4 times a year in New York City with “lunch and learns”. IRU has taken over the administration and marketing of the meetings and brought online registration and payment convenience to the Group.
November 2014
JOB POSTING AT JLT RE IN CHICAGO DELETED AS THE POSITION IS NOW FILLED
July 2014
NEXT GENERATION REINSURANCE LEADERSHIP SEMINAR HELD IN NYC – GREAT FEEDBACK
On July 16 & 17 the IRU presented its second such seminar (the first was in 2012) and a great group of company-nominated attendees were treated to two full days of presentations by industry leaders. Technical topics were presented including Flood/Wind; ERM/ORSA, Cyber risk, Contract wording issues, accounting/regulatory,rating agency and Alternative markets/ILS/Convergence. In addition, the participants also heard from the CEOS of major domestic and international insurers, reinsurers and reinsurance intermediaries on a host of leadership and management topics and from a top financial industry banker. Hats off especially to IRU Director, Education Committee member, and Mapfre Re VP, Laura Herubin, for putting together this excellent and highly-acclaimed program
July 2014
NEW DIRECTORS APPOINTED
Dwayne Elliott of American Agricultural Insurance Company and Bill Bernens of Arch Reinsurance Company have recently been appointed to the IRUA Board. Mr. Elliott is Underwriting Manager in American Ag’s Columbus, Ohio office and Mr. Bernens is Director of Property Treaty Underwriting at Arch Re in Morristown, New Jersey. Dwayne was already a member of the IRUA Education Committee and Bill headed and coordinated the Making Sense of Catastrophe Model Output seminar held in NYC last July.
Jim Brost, IRUA’s President welcomed both gentlemen and thanked them for their enthusiasm and commitment to the IRU’s mission
June 2014
IRU HQ MOVES TO NEW YORK
As the final part in the outsourcing of IRUA’s administrative functions, effective June 1 the Branchburg, NJ office will close and the 908 area code phone and fax numbers will be disconnected. Our new address will be:
3626 East Tremont Avenue, Suite 203, Throggs Neck, NY 10465.
The new phone number is: 718-892-0228 and fax number is 718-892-2544.
All existing email addresses remain unchanged and Executive Director Jerry Wallis may still be reached at the old address as he has opened a new office there for his reinsurance consulting and arbitration practice.
May 2014
SPRING CONFERENCE CONCLUDES ON A HIGH NOTE
Two excellent days of presentations sandwiched between the golf tournament received very favorable reviews both as to content and location.
On day 1 of the conference attendees were treated to excellent presentations from Mary Seidel of the RAA with an update on TRIA; Chris Nowinski, of the Sports Legacy Institute, on concussion issues andthe work that his Institute is doing to promote knowledge and changes to safeguard today’s children and current and future contact sports players from the risks associated with multiple concussions. A truly inspiring and excellent presentation. The last presentation of the morning was the Reinsurance Buyers Forum where senior executives of AIG, Main Street America and IAT Group gave their views of the current marketplace and forecast for the near-term with particular reference to the growing capacity from non-traditional markets.
The Golf Tournament was enjoyed by many despite dull (but dry) weather and Julie Hassan of Markel Global Re won many of the prizes so we expect to see her back next year- well done, Julie!!.
Day 2 featured the Regional Reinsurance Market Panel discussion led by Jay Woods of Guy Carpenter and with speakers from Munich Re America; American Ag; Platinum Re; and Allied World Re. Dr. Bob Hartwig of the I.I.I. then gave his ever-interesting and thought provoking presentation on the Insurance and Reinsurance Cycle – Overview and Outlook. So the 47th Annual Spring Conference concluded and initial feedback indicated great satisfaction from participants as to the program and venue.
Now on to 2015 and the Board is already considering dates and venues. The Conference will likely be held just prior to the AAIS meeting and themes are being discussed.
April 2014
IRU HONORS PAUL WALTHER AND KEN GRAHAM
At the Spring Conference awards were presented to Paul Walther, who has just retired after 15 years as Editor of the Journal of Reinsurance, and Ken Graham, Senior Vice President of Partner Re. Walther is the 2013 recipient of the IRUA’s highest honor, the Dr. George D. Young Award for Professional Excellence, and caps attendance at IRUA events dating way back into the 1970s when the organization was still known as the Midwest Reinsurance Underwriters. His underwriting background stood him in good stead for his consulting company, Reinsurance Directions, Inc., which he continues to promote and he is a well-experienced reinsurance arbitrator.
Ken Graham is a Senior Vice President of Partner Re and Worldwide Head of Standard Claims and North American Complex Claims. He is the 2013 recipient of the IRU’s Claims Outstanding Achievement Award to honor his contributions to education in the claims field and for his long support of the IRU.
April 2014
IRUA ADOPTS SEVERAL BYLAW AMENDMENTS AND ELECTS OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS
At the Annual Meeting of Members held on April 7, several bylaw amendments were adopted including expanding membership eligibility to include providers of services to the reinsurance community, such as attorneys, accountants and consultants. This move reflects the importance of providers to the community and will increase involvement by such parties in IRU’s educational programs.
Another amendment bifurcated the Secretary/Treasurer role, and the election of officers and directors resulted in Jim Brost of Holborn continuing as President; Mike Sowa of Aspen Re became Vice President, Kevin Rentko of Platinum Re was elected Secretary and Arlene Kern of Munich Re America was elected Treasurer. Several existing directors terms were extended by a further 2 years and Paul McKeon, Chief Underwriting Officer of Transatlantic Re joined the board.
April 2014
REINSURANCE AUDITS MINISESSION WELL ATTENDED AND RECEIVED
The two-day mini-session covering Reinsurance Audits (claims on day 1 and underwriting on day 2) was held at Edwards Wildman’s excellent facility in midtown Manhattan on March 12 and 13. A near capacity attendance each day was achieved and excellent reviews received for both content and presenters. Our thanks are due to all our presenters, Edwards Wildman for their hosting and sponsoring, and to Jim Jackson and Candy Magee, co-chairs of the IRU’s Claims and Education Committee for all their hard work to make it happen.
March 2014
FIRST EDUCATIONAL EVENT OF THE YEAR SOLD OUT – EXCELLENT REVIEWS
The Proportional & Non- Proportional Reinsurance Workshop was held in NYC on January 28 & 29 and was sold out. Presenter John Chaplin of Compass Reinsurance Consulting LLC did another great job of explaining and discussing the nuances of the forms and structure of reinsurance as evidenced by the first-rate reviews.
January 2014
For more information, please see our website at www.irua.org or email to mcs@irua.org
