People Moves: Admiral Names Smyrl President; Hartford’s Schultz Moves to Zurich Life Sciences; Roth Heads AXA XL Cyber Claims; Hippo Adds Hiscox’s Hanson

Smyrl Succeeds Fletcher a President of Admiral Insurance

W.R. Berkley Corp. as appointed Daniel Smyrl as president of excess and surplus lines insurer Admiral Insurance Group. He succeeds Curtis E. Fletcher, who has been named chairman of Admiral.

Smyrl joined Admiral in 2002 and most recently served as executive vice president of underwriting. He has nearly 40 years of commercial property/casualty insurance experience in underwriting and management.

Fletcher has been with Admiral for 23 years and was named president in 2018. He has helped advance Admiral as a leader in the excess and surplus lines commercial insurance market. As chairman, he will maintain an active role, providing insights and strategic guidance for the company.

Zurich North America Names Schulyz to Head Life Sciences

Zurich North America has appointed Linda Schultz as head of its Life Sciences for its new U.S. middle market business unit. Schultz joins the leadership team and reports to John Mizzi, head of Industry Practices, U.S. Middle Market.

Schultz joins Zurich from The Hartford, where she was head of Life Science U.S. Product Liability. In this role, she integrated the Navigators Life Sciences team that she previously led, with Hartford’s Life Sciences division. The Hartford acquired Navigators in 2019. Prior to Navigators, Schultz held life sciences and other underwriting, producer and claims roles at OneBeacon, Hilb Rogal & Hobbs, Chubb and Travelers.

At Zurich, Schultz is responsible for building life sciences industry specialization and underwriting expertise for several subsegments, including medical device manufacturers and providers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, research and development labs, and clinical trial administrators.

Life Sciences is a $4 billion insurance segment being targeted by Zurich, which will begin accepting submissions for life sciences business in early 2022.

AXA XL Adds Cyber Claims Leader, Launches Incident Response Team

AXA XL has promoted Danielle Roth as practice leader and head of Cyber Claims, North America. Roth is responsible for claims strategy and best practices including coverages analysis, claims investigations, reserving and resolution of claims, service standards and state regulations.

In addition to managing AXA XL’s cyber claims professionals in the U.S., Canada and Bermuda, Roth will also oversee the newly-created Cyber Incident Response team, led by Gwenn E. Cujdik, claims manager, Cyber Incident Response.

Cujdik will manage a team dedicated to assisting clients navigate cyber incidents including ransomware and business email compromise. Cujdik will oversee AXA XL’s breach response panel of law firms and vendors to assist in the incident response process and work with AXA XL’s Cyber Underwriting team to strengthen these services.

Roth has 10 years of cyber claims experience, most recently serving as claims manager, Cyber, Media & Technology for the Americas.

Cujdik joins AXA XL from Mullen Coughlin law firm, where she most recently served as a partner focusing on data privacy and cybersecurity event responses. She began her career as an assistant district attorney, Homicide ,in Philadelphia, PA and has served as a guest lecturer at Temple University since 2017.

Hippo Hires Hiscox’s Hanson to Lead Claims

Digital home insurer Hippo hired a former Hiscox executive Grace Hanson to be its first chief claims officer, with a mission to expand claims operations for the now publicly-traded California-based insurtech as it grows nationally. Hanson will take on the new position as of January 2022.

Hanson will extend the company’s use of technology and data to increase claims efficiency and ensure that customers are able to complete claims with limited effort.

Previously, Hanson was the chief claims officer for Hiscox. In her career, she also has experience with insurtech as chief claims officer of Homesite Insurance that offers a digital home insurance product.

Hippo, which went public in August through a special purpose acquisition company/reverse merger, lost $84.5 million in the 2021 second quarter, due largely to heavy storms in Texas. Hippo President Richard McCathron said the company plans more geographical and product diversification.

Topics Cyber Claims AXA XL