RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has announced a series of leadership promotions across its US operations and global underwriting teams, aimed at strengthening its business functions across core specialty lines.
RJ Shea has been named president of Renaissance Reinsurance US Inc. In this role, he will oversee underwriting operations, manage relationships with clients and brokers, and lead transaction execution in the US market.
Shea, who joined RenaissanceRe in 2015, most recently served as senior vice president and global head of credit. He previously held multiple underwriting roles, including head of underwriting strategy for casualty and specialty, and has worked across the Bermuda and US platforms.
Before joining RenaissanceRe, he worked at Morgan Stanley in investment banking and capital markets and holds a degree in economics and government and legal studies from Bowdoin College.
Adriana Nivia has been promoted to managing director, North America. She will be responsible for critical operational functions across the region.
Nivia has been with RenaissanceRe since 2005, serving as chief financial officer and treasurer of its US reinsurance business. Prior to that, she worked at Deloitte & Touche for over a decade. She is a graduate of Rutgers University.
Jim Riley has been appointed global head of casualty. He will lead strategy development and implementation for the company’s global casualty portfolio, spanning both reinsurance and insurance.
Riley has worked at RenaissanceRe since 2013, most recently as senior vice president and head of casualty in Bermuda as well as global head of cyber. He began his career in the industry as a specialty and professional liability broker at Aon Benfield. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and economics from the University of Chicago.
Mehdi Benleulmi has been named global head of credit. He will be responsible for setting and executing RenaissanceRe’s credit strategy across all markets. Benleulmi has led the firm’s credit business in Europe since 2021 from its Zurich office.
His background includes roles at Bayview Asset Management, Credit Suisse, Société Générale, and Thomson Reuters, with experience in structured finance and quantitative analysis. He holds a master's degree in financial mathematics from Université Paris Dauphine – PSL and also studied at the National University of Singapore.
As part of its capital management strategy, RenaissanceRe’s board also recently authorized an increase in its share repurchase program, bringing the total available for buybacks to US$750 million. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per common share, scheduled for payment on June 30.
In March, RenaissanceRe also introduced the RenaissanceRe Medici UCITS Fund, an Ireland-domiciled catastrophe bond fund launched with $340 million in capital. The vehicle includes a US$140 million co-investment from the company and is designed to offer European and global institutional investors access to property catastrophe bond strategies under the UCITS regulatory structure.
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