Zurich North America has named Ernie Salas (pictured) as senior broker relationship leader.

Salas will be responsible for developing and maintaining the company’s relationships with assigned distributors, as well as creating and executing distribution strategies with Zurich’s senior executives, business leaders, and regional leadership teams, a company release said.

With 27 years of industry and leadership experience, Salas joins Zurich North America from Chubb, where he most recently served as senior vice president with Chubb Commercial Insurance, under the general liability practice. Salas previously led Chubb’s specialty casualty & construction customer group for North America. He also held several other leadership roles at WTW and AIG.

“The senior broker relationship leader is a key role for us as we seek to strengthen and expand our relationships with our key trading partners. Ernie’s knowledge of the market and his extensive underwriting background will benefit not only Zurich, but also our broker partners and, ultimately, our customers,” said Zurich North America head of US middle market Alex Wells.

“We are thrilled to have Ernie join Zurich,” commented Zurich North America head of US national accounts Paul Horgan. “His experience and relationships with our largest brokers will help us strengthen Zurich’s position in the marketplace across all of our business units.”

Read more: Zurich unit adds new chief claims officer

Earlier this week, Zurich Life & Investments appointed Suzi Leung as its new chief claims officer. She had most recently served as the head of operational services and delegated claims within Zurich Australia, Switzerland, and North America.