Chubb has announced that it has appointed John Watkins as senior vice president, head of casualty claims for its North America claims organization.

Watkins will report to Chubb North American Claims executive vice-president and senior claim officer Jeffrey Miller. He will be based in Basking Ridge, NJ.

Previously, Miller had overseen casualty claims in the North American region, in addition to his current role. Administration of the North American casualty claims unit is now Watkins’ responsibility.

“In this position, Mr. Watkins will be responsible for managing approximately 325 casualty claims examiners and will oversee primary, excess, and umbrella general liability claims for both commercial and personal lines as well as environmental, construction, construction defect, medical risk, life science, aviation, programs, agriculture, and multinational claims,” a company release said.

Watkins has over 27 years of claims management experience. He was most recently senior vice-president of complex claims for Liberty Mutual's commercial insurance business. He joined Liberty Mutual as head of its litigation group. Before Liberty Mutual, Watkins was national claims counsel for Allmerica (now Hanover); he joined Allmerica as litigation counsel.

In addition, he had a career in private practice, joining Cooney, Scully and Dowling in Connecticut after law school and later joining Uehlein, Nason and Wall in Boston.

Watkins received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Massachusetts.

“John is a strategic leader and has a broad claims and legal background with an emphasis on managing complex casualty lines. His deep expertise and industry knowledge will enable our strong casualty team to further provide superior claims handling for our commercial and personal lines clients,” said Chubb Group senior vice-president and chief claims officer Frank Lattal. “I look forward to working alongside him in supporting our world-class casualty claims service team.”


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