One of the world’s leading independent global wholesale, underwriting management and reinsurance broking groups has made three senior appointments with one stroke of the pen.
CGSC North America, part of Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford has made a trio of senior appointments in its business development, partnerships and marketing operations.
William K. (Wim) Ludington joins as Executive Vice President for Carrier Management and Alternative Markets. He will provide carriers with one point of contact for strategic partnership opportunities related to the $2.5 billion in premium sourced by CGSC from retail brokers in North America.
Mason Power joins as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). He will be responsible for modernizing its marketing infrastructure and tactics and tasked with building further brand awareness of CGSC’s range of products and services among its clients and carrier partners.
Mark Smith joins as Senior Advisor to both Tom Ruggieri, CGSC North America’s CEO, and to the company’s Executive Management Committee. Smith will focus on developing new markets and strengthening the company’s existing capabilities across over a dozen product and industry-specific practice areas.
“Attracting individuals of the caliber of Wim, Mason and Mark to the team is a clear demonstration of our commitment to operational excellence while maintaining the core values that our customers expect,” said Ruggieri. “Their experience and expertise will also bring an important expansion to CGSC North America’s brokerage and underwriting capabilities.”
All three will report to Ruggieri.
In addition to supporting over 20 CGSC MGAs, MGUs and programs that are available to wholesale brokers and underwriting managers, Ludington will develop partnerships and new business opportunities by accessing alternative sources of insurance capital via structured products such as Catastrophe Bonds and Insurance Linked Securities.
Ludington joins from Canaccord Genuity Inc. where he was Head of the US Structured Products Sales team and has held positions at
Marsh, JP Morgan, UBS, and CapRok Capital. (continued.)
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Power is a veteran of the insurance technology industry. He was previously CMO at Agencyport, ran global sales, marketing and customer relationship management for Advisen and was a Board Director at Web Connectivity. In his new role Power will draw on this experience to work closely with CGSC’s CIO on modernizing the company’s enterprise software and its use of data and analytics.
Having started his career at Bloomberg LP, Power worked in publishing for internet.com and most recently served as CMO of private equity software provider iLEVEL which is backed by The Blackstone Group and The Carlyle Group.
Prior to joining CGSC North America, Smith was Managing Director and a member of the Executive Committee for RT Specialty. He began his career as a Casualty Underwriter for Facultative Group and has held positions as President of AmWINS Brokerage and President and CEO of Stewart Smith Group.
Edgar to head up new QBE office
QBE Services Inc. is expanding their footprint in the Vancouver, B.C. area, having signed a lease in the new MNP office tower in that city.
David Edgar, General Manager, Canada, will assume the responsibility of General Manager, Western Region based in Vancouver and focus his efforts on the growth and expansion of QBE’s presence in Western Canada.
The office will have capacity for 16 staff with intended occupancy at August 1 – and the search for a Toronto-based General Manager will commence immediately.
“More than 70 per cent of the company’s Canadian branch business is underwritten from the Toronto location and it requires the attention of a full time General Manager,” said Edgar in the press release.
