People Moves: Liberty Mutual Names Former CNA Exec as President, GRS N. America; AXA XL Boosts Cyber Insurance Team in N. America With 3 Hires

Liberty Mutual Names Former CNA Exec as President, GRS North America

Liberty Mutual Insurance announced the appointment of Kevin Smith as president of Global Risk Solutions (GRS) North America.

Reporting to GRS President Neeti Bhalla Johnson, Smith will be accountable for delivering GRS North America’s financial and operational performance which includes commercial and specialty businesses in the U.S., Canada and Bermuda and operates across Major Accounts, Middle Market and Specialty segments.

Smith has more 30 years of experience across property, casualty and specialty insurance, most recently as president and chief operating officer of CNA’s specialty business. Previously he held leadership roles in underwriting, marketing and field operations at Chubb North America.

Smith is the fourth leadership appointment by Bhalla Johnson since she became GRS President in June 2021. Earlier this year, she appointed Matthew Moore as GRS president of Underwriting, Susanne Figueredo Cook as GRS chief operating officer, and Phil Hobbs as Liberty Specialty Markets president.

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AXA XL Boosts Cyber Insurance Team in North America

AXA XL Insurance appointed three new colleagues to its Cyber and Technology Errors & Omission (E&O) insurance business in North America: Deuayne Crawford as head of Cyber for the Northeast in New York; Marisa Vero as senior underwriter in Los Angeles; and Hannah Baker as underwriter in St. Paul, Minn.

Crawford assumes the overall underwriting management responsibilities in the Northeast, the largest region for AXA XL’s Cyber business. He joins from Ironshore, where he was responsible for managing underwriting for cyber, media, technology and miscellaneous professional liability insurance for mid-cap and large-cap clients. Crawford earned his undergraduate degree from Binghamton University and his Master of Science in Insurance Management from Boston University. He holds CPCU (Charter Property Casualty Underwriter) and RPLU+ (Registered Professional Liability Underwriter+) designations.

Vero joins AXA XL’s West Zone from Zurich North America, where she worked as a senior management liability underwriter, providing D&O, employment practices, fiduciary, crime, and kidnap and ransom solutions. She has also held underwriting positions at Chubb and Hiscox. Vero is a graduate of the University at Buffalo.

Baker joins AXA XL to support the cyber and tech E&O insurance needs of brokers and clients throughout AXA XL’s Central Zone. Baker began her insurance career at Marsh, and most recently served as a senior account underwriter at Travelers. She is a graduate of St. Cloud State University.

Topics Cyber AXA XL