Property, commercial, and specialty insurer and reinsurer IQUW has announced the promotion of Robbie MacDonald to head of property, direct and facultative (D&F) and Tom Hennessey to head of property, delegated authority (DA).
In their new roles, MacDonald and Hennessey will work collaboratively to oversee IQUW’s global property book. They will report to Steven Tebbutt, active underwriter at IQUW.
“Stability and driving profitability are key to our property portfolio,” said Tebbutt. “We have excellent coverholders that we partner with, both in D&F and the delegated side. What Robbie and Tom will do is help us achieve our goal of keeping our partners happy and having steady and repeatable earnings.
MacDonald was formerly the lead underwriter for property D&F at IQUW. He began his insurance career at Marsh in London in 2007, followed by positions at Tokio Marine Global, Tokio Marine Kiln, and Tokio Marine HCC. He subsequently joined the IQUW D&F underwriting team in 2021.
Hennessey started his career as an insurance broker in the property team at Price Forbes & Partners. He later transitioned to a role as a property underwriter at Hiscox before joining Arcus Syndicate in 2020. Following IQUW’s acquisition of Arcus in 2021, Hennessey assumed the position of lead underwriter, DA at IQUW.
“I will be supporting IQUW’s strategy and working hand in hand with Tom to ensure the portfolio is stable and consistent,” said MacDonald. “Overall, at IQUW, we will see more collaboration with pricing, actuarial reserving claims and other functions within the business – not just in property, but right across the company.”
“We will have much more involvement in the overall property strategy and will be looking to see how we can embed strategic relationships with our coverholders over the coming years,” added Hennessey. “I am delighted to be working with Robbie in this new role.”
The duo will receive support from other key members of the property team, including lead underwriter John Brown and Stuart Bell, head of property claims. Both Brown and Bell joined IQUW in 2022 from Beazley.
In addition to promoting MacDonald and Hennessey, IQUW is prioritising technological advancements to support its underwriting team.
In a Press release, IQUW said it is investing in the development of next generation tools that provide real-time access to external data sources to provide valuation, mapping, and risk scoring metrics.
“IQUW is committed in investing in technology and people to make sure clients and brokers get the best possible service,” said Tebbutt. “The data and analytics tools we are investing in will allow us to continue the momentum of building out a team of well-informed and empowered underwriters, who can price risks consistently and accurately as we strive to become a go-to market for property catastrophe insurance.”
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