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Executive Changes
Aetna/CVS Merger Affects Execs

Also: AHIP adds COO, two EVPs; Country Financial’s Kurt Bock plans to retire and Jim Jacobs named CEO; Munich Re Names UK Life CEO.

Karen Lynch

Karen Lynch

Aetna Inc.'s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Bertolini will resign his position after the company is acquired by CVS Health Corp., and will be succeeded by Aetna President Karen Lynch, who will oversee day-to-day operations.

Bertolini will join the board of directors for CVS Health once CVS Health's $69 billion acquisition of Aetna closes.

Under the post-deal management structure, Lynch will also serve as executive vice president of CVS Health. Larry Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Health, will become the CEO of the combined company.

The combination with Aetna will help consumers, Thomas M. Moriarty, executive vice president, chief policy and external affairs officer, and general counsel, CVS Health, said.

“The high cost of prescription drugs is one of the nation's most pressing problems and a major source of financial worry for consumers here in Connecticut and across the country,” Moriarty said at a Connecticut Insurance Department hearing on the merger.

“Aetna sees this as the next and most important step in our own journey to really put consumers at the center of their care,” Lynch said.

Meanwhile, Shawn Guertin, Aetna's executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief enterprise risk officer, has decided to step down from those posts for personal and family reasons once the transaction is complete.

Guertin will remain with CVS Health until June 2019 in order to help the merged companies with integration and financial planning strategy, CVS Health said.

Eva Boratto will become the new executive vice president and CFO of CVS Health Corp. following the completion of the deal. Boratto is currently the CVS Health's executive vice president, controller and chief accounting officer.

 

—Frank Klimko and Thomas Harman


John Mathewson

John Mathewson

AHIP Adds COO, Two Executive Vice Presidents

America's Health Insurance Plans has named John Mathewson as the trade association's chief operating officer and has also named two new executive vice presidents.

Before joining AHIP, Mathewson was interim president and chief executive officer for the DC Primary Care Association. Mathewson is responsible for the association's business and operational strategies and succeeded Matt Eyles, who was formerly head of policy and COO before being named AHIP president and CEO earlier this year.

Eyles succeeded Marilyn Tavenner, who retired on June 1.

Keith Fontenot joins as executive vice president of policy and strategy. Previously, he worked as managing director of government relations and public policy at Hooper Lundy &Bookman PC, a health law firm. Fontenot will fill Eyles former policy role.

Elizabeth Goodman joins as executive vice president of government affairs and innovation. Previously, Goodman worked at MassHealth—the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program for the state of Massachusetts—where she was chief of long-term services and supports. She will replace Adrienne Morrell, who left the association earlier this year for SCAN Health Plan, a California-based insurer, which is also a member of AHIP.


Helen Pickford

Helen Pickford

Zurich UK Appoints Chief Financial Officer

Zurich Insurance Group said it has appointed Helen Pickford as U.K. chief financial officer.

Pickford takes over the U.K. CFO role from James Quin, who decided to leave Zurich after five years, the company said.

Pickford has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. She was previously deputy CFO for Zurich UK and CFO for Zurich's U.K. life business. Before joining Zurich in 2016, she was finance director at Ageas and held senior finance roles at Royal Sun Alliance.


Judy Gonsalves

Judy Gonsalves

Mary Parsons

Mary Parsons

Tim Barziza

Tim Barziza

Chubb Names President of Bermuda Division

Judy Gonsalves has been appointed vice president of Chubb Group and division president of Bermuda.

Effective immediately and subject to regulatory review, she will succeed Joseph Clabby, who will be named chairman of Chubb Bermuda. In this new role, Clabby will serve in an advisory role to Gonsalves and the Chubb Bermuda team.

Gonsalves is currently executive vice president and chief underwriting officer of Chubb Bermuda. She will remain in Bermuda,

In addition to his Chubb Bermuda responsibilities, Clabby will join Chubb's North America field management leadership team and will be based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

Gonsalves has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. She joined Chubb Bermuda (formerly Ace Bermuda) in 1992 as an assistant underwriter in the excess liability department. In 2004, she was appointed senior vice president, and was promoted to executive vice president in April 2010, before assuming her current role.

Clabby has more than three decades of industry experience, with 17 years at Chubb. Most recently, he was Chubb's division president of Bermuda and its global accounts division. Prior to Ace's acquisition of Chubb in January 2016, he held a number of leadership positions.

Chubb recently named Mary Parsons executive vice president, sales and distribution leader for the North America personal risk services division at Chubb Ltd. Parsons succeeds Annmarie Camp, who in July was named head of Chubb's European personal risk services division.

Parsons joined Chubb as a personal lines underwriter in 1998, and has since held a number of leadership roles.

Chubb also has appointed Tim Barziza as head of North American property claims. He succeeds Bill Turnbull, who joined the insurer 33 years ago and plans to retire at year end.

Barziza will be based in Dallas. He has more than 25 years of industry experience, the past 15 at Chubb.


Hendrickson New CEO at StarStone Group

StarStone said it appointed John Hendrickson as chief executive officer of StarStone Group. He succeeds Demian Smith, who resigned in September after eight years with the company.

StarStone Insurance Bermuda Ltd. confirmed Smith had left the company.

Hendrickson has more than 35 years of industry experience, and most recently was director of strategy, risk management and corporate development of Validus Group and a member of the Validus Holdings public company board of directors, until its acquisition by American International Group Inc. in July 2018.


Kingstone Appoints New CEO

Kingstone Cos. Inc. has appointed Dale Thatcher as chief executive officer. He will succeed Barry Goldstein, who has been named executive chairman of the board of directors.

Thatcher, a board member since 2017, was named earlier in the year to the newly created positions of chief operating officer of Kingstone Cos. and president of Kingstone Insurance Co. He founded Atherstone Partners, a consulting practice in insurance and investments, after serving 16 years as chief financial officer at Selective Insurance Group.

Thatcher remains Kingstone Insurance president. Goldstein, 65, will continue with the company, particularly working on the development of a distribution network in the Northeast.


Collette Champagne

Collette Champagne

Hagerty Group Appoints Chief Operating Officer

Hagerty Group LLC has appointed Collette “Coco” Champagne as chief operating officer. She fills a post that has been vacant since 2011.

Previously, Champagne was Hagerty's chief people officer. Champagne joined Hagerty in 1999 as the leader of sales and service. Three years later, she became vice president of human resources.


Cigna Appoints Post Merger Leadership Team

Cigna Corp. has appointed a leadership team that will report to President and Chief Executive Officer David Cordani after it completes its $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts Holding Co.

Post-merger enterprise leadership reporting to Cordani will include: Chief Financial Officer Eric Palmer; Chief Information Officer Mark Boxer; Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Bacus; Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Steven Miller; Chief Human Resources Officer John Murabito; U.S. Government Business President Brian Evanko; General Counsel Nicole Jones; Strategy and Solutions President Matthew Manders; International Markets President Jason Sadler and U.S. Commercial Business President Michael Triplett.

Cigna previously announced that Express Scripts President and CEO Tim Wentworth will serve as Express Scripts and Cigna Services president, heading the health services business.


Mark Cloutier

Mark Cloutier

Brit's Cloutier Joins Apollo, Focus on Aspen

Mark Cloutier will step down as executive chairman of Brit Insurance in December 2018, after which he will work with an affiliate of Apollo Global Management LLC as a consultant focused on Apollo's proposed acquisition of Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd.

Cloutier will work on the proposed acquisition by investment funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management “with a view to assuming the role” of chairman and chief executive officer of Aspen following completion of the transaction, Brit said.

Chris O'Kane is currently Aspen's group CEO.

Cloutier was appointed CEO of Brit in 2011, and became executive chairman in January 2017. Over a 40-year career, he held a number of CEO and senior executive positions, including CEO of Alea Group, CEO of Overseas Partner Re and president of E.W. Blanch Insurance Services Inc.


Mari-Lizette Malherbe

Mari-Lizette Malherbe

Munich Re Names UK Life CEO

Munich Re London (Life Branch) said it appointed Mari-Lizette Malherbe as chief executive officer of the U.K. and Irish life reinsurance business.

She succeeds Andy Batley, Munich Re London. Malherbe was the company's commercial director before assuming the CEO role on Oct. 1.

Malherbe was appointed to the U.K. senior management team in 2016. She joined Munich Re in 2007 and worked in international Munich Re offices in a variety of roles.


Peak Re Names Chief Operating Officer

Peak Reinsurance Co. Ltd. has appointed David V. Cabral as the group's chief operating officer.

The Hong Kong-based reinsurer said Cabral's role has leadership responsibilities in business processes integration, achieving operational efficiency and driving Peak Re's technology strategy development.

Before joining Peak Re, Cabral was a founder of a reinsurance advisory firm providing advisory services from strategy to new product development for reinsurance companies and insurtech start-ups across multiple geographies. He was also a founding member of a start-up reinsurance company.


Jim Jacobs

Jim Jacobs

Kurt Bock

Kurt Bock

Country Financial Appoints Jacobs CEO

Country Financial has appointed Jim Jacobs as chief executive officer. He succeeds Kurt Bock, who is retiring.

Jacobs has been general counsel, secretary and chief legal officer for Country Financial, Illinois Farm Bureau and other affiliated companies since 2008.

Earlier, he was an attorney and assistant corporate secretary in Illinois Farm Bureau's Office of General Counsel and had been a litigation attorney and partner at a New Orleans law firm.

Bock led Country Financial during a time of rapid change as it increased digital capabilities, its focus on customers and employee development, the company said earlier. He has been CEO for seven years.

Bock is also a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance and is the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America board chairman.


Legal &General America Names CEO

Legal &General America said it appointed Mark Holweger as president and chief executive officer of its insurance division.

Holweger was previously executive vice president, distribution and marketing for Legal &General America. He joined the U.S. operation earlier this year from Legal &General Insurance in the United Kingdom.

Legal &General America includes operating companies Banner Life Insurance Co. and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York.




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