The Reinsurance Association of America has elected new officers to serve from 2019 to 2020.
John Welch, chief executive for North America at AXA XL Reinsurance, has been elected chair of the Reinsurance Association of America's board of directors. Mr. Welch, who also is chair of the association's Council of Reinsurers and Brokers, succeeded Steve Levy, the president and chief executive officer for reinsurance at Munich Reinsurance America.
Kathleen Reardon, the chief executive officer at Hamilton Re, was elected vice chair, and Jed Rhoads, the president and chief underwriting officer for global reinsurance at Markel, was elected secretary-treasurer.
Mr. Welch, the chief executive for North America at AXA XL Reinsurance, is a managing director of AXA XL and a member of its reinsurance leadership team. Mr. Welch is a member of the executive committee of the board of trustees of The Institutes, as well as a member of the finance advisory committee of Fairfield University's Dolan School of Business. He is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (“FCAS”), a member of the American Academy of Actuaries (“MAAA”), and an Associate in Reinsurance (“ARe”).
Mr. Welch holds a B.S. in mathematics from Fairfield University and completed the Executive Education Program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business.
Before joining Hamilton Re in 2012, Ms. Reardon, the chief executive officer of Hamilton Re, served as senior vice president and chief underwriting officer for ACE (now Chubb) Tempest Re Bermuda's international property catastrophe reinsurance business. She worked for ACE Financial Solutions International as assistant vice president and then vice president for underwriting before joining ACE Tempest Re.
Before moving to Bermuda, Ms. Reardon held various actuarial roles at ACE USA following ACE Limited's acquisition of CIGNA's property and casualty business in 1999. She began her career at CIGNA in 1994 as an actuarial assistant.
Ms. Reardon is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. She received a B.S. in mathematics from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ms. Reardon is co-founder and chair of Women in Reinsurance in Bermuda.
Mr. Rhoads, the president and chief underwriting officer of Markel's global reinsurance operations, leads Markel's treaty and facultative reinsurance business with teams focused on property, casualty, specialty, and public entity risk solutions from offices located in the United States, Bermuda, and the United Kingdom.
He joined Markel in 2013, when Markel acquired Alterra Capital Holdings Limited in Bermuda. Over the course of his career, Mr. Rhoads has held executive positions with Harbor Point Re, Chubb Re Bermuda, Overseas Partners Limited Bermuda (“OPL”), and Stockton Re Limited Bermuda. His first job in the industry was with the Kemper Reinsurance Company in Long Grove, Illinois, in 1981.
Mr. Rhoads is a graduate of Beloit College and the Insurance Executive Development Program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Reinsurance Association of America represents its members before state, federal, and international bodies.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].