Global Indemnity Group has appointed Jessica Buss (pictured), the former chief executive of Argo Group and GuideOne Insurance, as its CEO, effective immediately.
She replaces Jay Brown, who led the specialty insurer since 2022.
Buss also becomes CEO of Global Indemnity's two operating platforms, Katalyx Holdings and Belmont Holdings GX. She joined the board on October 26 and remains a director.
The company said her mission is to scale the business that Fox Paine, its largest shareholder, has built over 23 years, and to put Global Indemnity’s A-rated paper to work for agents, wholesale partners and new specialty underwriting teams. She will lead Katalyx’s expansion into E&S MGAs across wholesale, retail and direct-to-consumer channels.
Buss has spent most of her career in specialty insurance. As CEO of GuideOne Insurance, she doubled premiums and, according to Global Indemnity, took the company past $1 billion in premium and built a $400 million E&S business. She has also been CEO of Argo Group and of auto lending services company Open Lending. Earlier, as chief operating officer and CFO of Rockhill Insurance, she led its sale to State Auto Mutual, and then ran State Auto’s $1.5 billion commercial and specialty division.
“She knows how to make money in specialty casualty, how to attract first-rate talent and how to use technology to grow faster and run leaner than the competition,” said Saul Fox, Global Indemnity’s founder and chairman and the founder and CEO of Fox Paine & Company.
Brown said Fox had asked him four years ago to move from the board to the CEO role to prepare the company for a market that rewards disciplined underwriting supported by competitive technology. With the company’s Kaleidoscope platform now rolling out to agency partners, he said, Buss was taking over at the right time.
Global Indemnity’s five insurance carriers hold an A (Excellent) rating from AM Best, which the company said it has kept for more than 23 years. It reaches the market through more than 350 wholesale agency offices, 12,000 retail agents and a direct-to-consumer platform.
Over the past four years it has developed Kaleidoscope, its own underwriting, policy and data platform, which includes AI tools that evaluate and price risks outside traditional binding authority.
“My job is to build on it,” Buss said, adding that she aims to make Global Indemnity one of the leading specialty franchises in the country.
For wholesale brokers and agents who work with Global Indemnity, the appointment signals a push to grow. Expanding E&S MGAs and recruiting new specialty underwriting teams could add capacity in classes where Global Indemnity hasn’t been active.
The plan to recruit underwriting teams is also significant. Specialty carriers increasingly grow by hiring established teams and giving them access to paper and technology. That could make Global Indemnity a destination for underwriters looking for a new home.
Brokers should watch the timing, though. The E&S market is softening in property, while casualty remains difficult. Growth in specialty casualty, where Buss has experience, carries long-tail risk that may take years to show. Brokers will want to see that expansion is matched by underwriting discipline.
