People Moves: Chubb’s O’Brien Named CRO, Ringsted to Lead Digital Business; Azzolino to Head The Hartford’s Global Specialty Digital Solutions

Chubb Limited announced that Frances O’Brien has been appointed executive vice president, Chubb Group, and chief risk officer, effective April 1.

O’Brien was senior vice president, Chubb Group, and deputy chief risk officer, a position she held since January 2022. In her new role, she will have executive responsibility for Chubb’s enterprise risk management organization and the effective execution of the company’s enterprise risk strategies and processes.

O’Brien has more than 40 years of insurance industry experience. She was appointed SVP, Chubb Group, and division president, North America Personal Risk Services in 2016 and led that business until January 2022. Prior to ACE’s acquisition of Chubb in 2016, she was SVP, chief risk officer of Chubb Corporation, with global responsibility. She joined Chubb as an actuarial trainee and served in positions of increasing responsibility in actuarial, product development and underwriting.

Sean Ringsted, formerly Chubb’s CRO, will continue to serve as EVP, Chubb Group, and chief digital business officer, leading the expansion of the company’s digital business unit globally and having responsibility for the use of data and analytics to drive decision-making insights across the company. He will remain a core member of the Risk Underwriting Committee.

Ringsted has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. He has served as CRO of the company since 2008 and, in 2017, was appointed to the additional role of chief digital officer. Prior to ACE’s acquisition of Chubb in 2016, he was CRO and chief actuary of ACE Limited.

“This change in executive leadership responsibilities recognizes the significant opportunity we have to harness our resources and deploy cutting-edge technologies, including machine learning, artificial intelligence and large-scale data, to deliver business value and strategic advantage to Chubb’s businesses. Under Sean’s leadership we will also continue to expand Chubb’s digital product and service offerings,” said Evan G. Greenberg, chairman and CEO of Chubb Limited.

O’Brien and Ringsted will both report to Greenberg and John Keogh, president and chief operating officer.

Azzolino to Head The Hartford’s New Global Specialty Digital Solutions Unit

The Hartford said it has named Mark Azzolino head of a new unit called Global Specialty Digital Solutions, which will be focused on offering specialty and wholesale insurance products in a fully digitized, end-to-end manner.

Azzolino will be responsible for for increasing distribution and access to Global Specialty’s suite of digital capabilities, including its proprietary portal named Pronto where an agent or broker can submit, quote, and bind specialty and wholesale products within minutes. Azzolino also will explore new partnerships with agents and brokers, and embedded solutions, to further leverage The Hartford’s digital capabilities, as well as bring new specialty and wholesale insurance products to the digital realm.

Azzolino previously served as The Hartford’s head of management liability in Global Specialty’s Financial Lines segment, where he was responsible for The Hartford’s private and not-for-profit management liability businesses. In addition, he oversaw the sales and process execution for the management and professional liability lines of business.

Azzolino will report to The Hartford’s Head of Global Specialty, Adrien Robinson.

“We have more than a dozen specialty insurance products being digitally transacted across five distinct digital channels in Global Specialty,” said Robinson. “Continuing to expand our digital capabilities will further help us to serve the evolving needs of the specialty marketplace. Our customers have asked for more creative online solutions in specialty lines, and we have responded by linking across the enterprise to leverage The Hartford’s strength in online quoting and servicing to offer greater efficiency, growth and innovation to our specialty trading partners.”

Topics Liability Excess Surplus Chubb