Ryan to take reins at Navigators Wholesale after Saunders departure
Jeff Saunders is retiring as head of Navigators’ dedicated wholesale operation at the end of the year with Tim Ryan set to take over in the position at The Hartford-owned carrier, The Insurer can reveal.
Saunders is a 15-years veteran of Navigators, which was bought by The Hartford in a $2.2bn cash deal that closed in May this year.
Saunders held a number of positions at the insurer including excess casualty division president. He joined in 2004 from CNA and previously spent 15 years at Fireman’s Fund.
Ryan is promoted from the position of head of casualty and inland marine at the operation. Previously, he was president of specialty casualty and president of excess casualty at Navigators prior to the buyout.
He joined Navigators in 2013 from Aspen Insurance, where he had been chief excess casualty officer. Ryan also held executive underwriting roles at Carolina Casualty and Berkshire Hathaway’s Gen Re, according to his LinkedIn profile.
A spokesperson for The Hartford confirmed that Saunders is retiring at the end of the year and that Ryan will become head of Navigators Wholesale, reporting to The Hartford’s head of global specialty Vince Tizzio.
They added that the carrier is currently looking at options to fill Ryan’s current role.
Other senior executives in the wholesale only unit include financial lines head Henry Lopez, wholesale distribution head Tracy Wade, transportation head Dave Stevenson, environmental head Brad Kuchinic and portfolio underwriting head Jeff Kuklinksi.
As previously revealed by this publication, head of E&S property Jim Wallace resigned last month to join expansive Munich Re Specialty Insurance.
US wholesale and reinsurance were the only two areas of the Navigators business that retained the name after The Hartford buyout closed, and are marketed as “Navigators – a brand of The Hartford”.
In February, ahead of the deal close, The Hartford said it would align its existing specialty commercial and middle market business into two new market-facing platforms: global specialty and middle & large commercial.
The global specialty business is led by former Navigators’ US Insurance president Tizzio, reporting to The Hartford’s president Doug Elliot.
The business focuses on delivering specialty products through retail and wholesale channels, and includes the dedicated wholesale unit Navigators Specialty as well as international teams.
Total global specialty net written premiums were put at $1.9bn based on pro forma numbers from 2017.
The Hartford’s middle & large commercial platform is led by Mo Tooker, the former Gen Re executive who was head of middle market at the standalone The Hartford business.
The unit distributes through retail agents and brokers and represented $2.7bn of net written premiums on a pro forma basis calculated on 2017 data.