AXA XL has announced several new appointments within its large commercial business unit and customer and sales team as it restructures its insurance business in the Americas region.
Donnacha Smith has been appointed Chief Underwriting Officer for Casualty and will also be responsible for managing both primary and excess casualty underwriting in the Americas.
He previously managed the Americas excess casualty insurance practice and his team currently serves the group casualty insurance needs of AXA XL clients, including general liability, automobile, workers’ compensation and excess or umbrella protection.
At the same time, Eric D'Onofrio, previously chief underwriting officer for the Americas Aviation division, will assume underwriting management responsibility for all specialty insurance lines, including aviation, marine, political risk, trade credit and commercial bonds, war, terrorism and political violence, fine art and gilts, and structured risk solutions.
Michel Sansone will continue as Chief Underwriting Officer, Real Estate, responsible for managing flagship and quota share commercial property insurance programs, as well as equipment breakdown product lines. Additionally, Sansone will lead AXA XL's multinational solutions team, responsible for helping clients structure their global property and casualty insurance programs.
Meanwhile, Michelle Chia has been appointed chief underwriting officer for AXA XL's Cyber, Design Professional and Select Professional insurance businesses in the Americas.
Announcing the changes, Donna Nadeau, head of large commercial, said in a statement, “By simplifying our organizational structure, we will make it easier for customers to meet their insurance needs with fewer touchpoints.”
“Having Donacha's team as a single point of contact for both our primary and excess liability lines will improve the efficiency of our underwriting and claims management.”
“Similarly, our large commercial clients will benefit from easy access to a full range of specialist products under Eric's oversight, and our expanded jurisdiction in Bermuda and Canada will enable us to provide the best possible service to our local customers.”
At the same time, Matt O'Malley, chief customer and sales officer, Americas, announced two key appointments to the team: Maria Duhart will join the Americas-based customer and sales team as head of the Eastern U.S. region, and June Dwyer will assume the role of head of broker relationships for large commercial and mid-market.
O'Malley commented, “June's experience in insurance companies, as well as nearly 20 years as a broker, puts her in a unique position to keep the insurance needs of our clients top of mind.”
“June’s work experience as a broker gives her a deep understanding of what our brokers have to offer their clients and will put us in an even stronger position to deliver value and help them manage risk in a truly holistic way.
“Maria has extensive experience managing a wide variety of underwriting across AXA XL’s specialty insurance lines and is uniquely positioned to bring value to our clients and brokers in the eastern region.
“Her underwriting expertise and ability to build strong broker and client relationships will help us meet the diverse and complex needs of brokers and clients in this region, which has the largest concentration of business in the United States.”