Centauri hires ex-broker Knutson to lead capital & reinsurance strategy

Catastrophe exposed state focused property and casualty insurer Centauri Insurance has hired Paul Knutson, formerly of broker BMS Group, to lead its capital and reinsurance strategy.

Centauri specialises in property insurance in storm exposed, coastal states and serves policyholders across Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Texas at the moment.

Knutson joins Centauri after a brief spell in strategic consulting for risk transfer and reinsurance smart marketplace provider Tremor Technologies.

Prior to that he worked as an Executive Vice President at reinsurance broker BMS for almost three years, before which he was at Willis Re for four years. He has also worked for Guy Carpenter.

He takes on the role of Vice President, Capital and Reinsurance Strategy at Centauri Insurance, responsible for the design, negotiation and implementation of capital and reinsurance solutions.

Knutson will be tasked with aligning reinsurance and capital solutions with the financial and strategic goals of Centauri and its owner Applied Underwriters.

Reinsurance is a key underwriting capacity source for an insurer like Centauri, operating in storm exposed states, enabling it to assume more risk and retain that which it is attractive to do so.

Knutson’s career has seen him working at the intersection of catastrophe modeling results and risk capital, leveraging analytics to develop risk transfer strategy and product design.

Rick Espino, President and CEO of Centauri Insurance said that the executive team in “is delighted to have Paul join our executive team.”

Adding that, “His background and experience in the reinsurance markets will generate focused strategies to bolster our financial stability and reinforce the strong relationships we’ve developed with our reinsurers.”