NU Online News Service, April 5, 12:12 p.m. EST
The ACE Group in Zurich, Switzerland announced that Damien Sullivan has been named president and chief executive officer of its Asia Pacific region effective July 1.
Mr. Sullivan is currently the chief executive officer for the company's Australia and New Zealand business and formerly served as chief operating officer for the region.
In his new post, the company said he will have responsibility for the management and development of the company's property and casualty, accident and health and personal lines insurance operations in 12 countries throughout the region.
He will be based in Singapore and will report to John Keogh, CEO of ACE's Insurance – Overseas General operations. Mr. Sullivan is succeeding John Bassetto, who announced he is retiring from the company.
"The combination of Damien's proven management experience, leadership, regional operations know-how and technical underwriting expertise makes him perfectly suited to assume this critical role," Mr. Keogh noted in a statement.
He said he wanted to thank Mr. Bassetto for "outstanding contributions over the course of the last 18 years with ACE and its predecessor companies. He has truly been one of our company's leading internationalists – an important architect in helping build ACE's presence in this part of the world while producing consistently strong financial results. We have enjoyed much success in Asia Pacific, and we owe John much gratitude for that."
Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Sullivan had been executive vice president and COO of the Asia Pacific region from 2005 to 2009, after serving for three years in Sydney as CEO, Australia and New Zealand. Before that, he held a variety of increasingly responsible positions in ACE and the international p&c operations of CIGNA, which ACE acquired in 1999.
Mr. Bassetto's insurance industry career, the company said, spanned more than 30 years. Before his current role, he was CEO of ACE Insurance Limited's (formerly CIGNA) Australian operations from 1998 to 2002, and served as vice president, Property and Casualty, CIGNA Insurance Asia Pacific from 1992 to 1998.
Prior to this assignment, Mr. Bassetto advanced through a variety of roles in the region with American International Group and CIGNA.
Following his retirement, Mr. Bassetto will serve as a senior advisor to ACE Overseas General.
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