AXIS Capital puts Group CUO Draper in charge of AXIS ILS unit

AXIS Capital, the global specialty insurance and reinsurance underwriter, has put a new reporting line in place for its insurance-linked securities (ILS) division AXIS ILS, with Group Chief Underwriting Officer Dan Draper adding that to his responsibilities.

Recently, AXIS Capital announced some senior leadership changes aligned with its planned succession and development process.

Firstly, Ann Haugh, who took on the CEO of AXIS Re role in June 2022, has become Group Chief Operations Officer (COO), a new position at the company.

As a result, AXIS Capital’s Group Chief Underwriting Officer Dan Draper has been given expanded responsibilities, including a new position serving as the Head of AXIS Re.

In that role Draper will lead and oversee the global specialty reinsurance business at AXIS.

But on top of that, Draper has also been given responsibility for the AXIS ILS unit as well, where AXIS matches risk with partner capital in insurance-linked securities style arrangements.

Draper also oversees the relatively recently launched AXIS Capacity Solutions, which is another area that third-party capital management has a role for the company.

While picking up new responsibilities, Draper has also relinquished some, as the Reserving and Capital Modeling functions that had reported to him will now become part of the CFO organisation.

The AXIS ILS unit encompasses the third-party capital and ILS activities under quota shares and other ILS structures, where AXIS shares risk with third-party investors.

This activity had lessened with the decline in catastrophe risk written by the company a few years ago, but has increased again with the use of third-party capital structures such as sidecars to share a broader range of risks with investors, such as casualty business through the Monarch vehicle.

As we reported last week, AXIS Capital’s activities in alternative capital and insurance-linked securities (ILS) generated attractive fee income for the company in 2025, amounting to $54 million. While a new structure established for 2026 also showed that its casualty sidecar Monarch Point Re remains a core focus for the company.

Draper is based in London and will continue to report to AXIS President and CEO Vince Tizzio, while Haugh is based in new York and will also report to the CEO. Both sit on the executive committee.

“We are proud to announce Ann and Dan’s new appointments. Both are exceptional leaders who have played pivotal roles in driving the positive transformation of AXIS into a top global specialty underwriter,” Tizzio commented. “With these organizational changes that we’ve announced today, we are further adapting our business to succeed in the current, dynamic risk environment while simplifying and harmonizing our operations to enhance our effectiveness and efficiency.”