Markel hires acting head of retro reinsurance to replace Vezina

A new acting head of retrocessional property reinsurance has been hired at Markel Global Reinsurance replacing recently departed Martin Vezina. Greg Richardson, a prior employee of Alterra Capital before Markel acquired the firm, will underwrite retro property reinsurance for Markel and the New Point sidecar.

Hiring Richardson into this role is a good move for Markel as he has significant experience in the structure of the reinsurance entity that was previously part of Alterra and was involved in the retro side of the business, including in the set-up of the New Point sidecar ventures.

Jed Rhoads, President and Chief Underwriting Officer, Property Reinsurance at Markel Global Reinsurance, said about the appointment; “We are very pleased that Greg Richardson has agreed to join our team. Greg is an accomplished reinsurance professional who was previously a member of the leadership of Alterra Capital prior to its acquisition by Markel earlier this year. In that capacity, Greg was responsible for the development of the New Point series of sidecar vehicles established to create new collateralized retro capacity for the property catastrophe reinsurance marketplace. With immediate effect, Greg will underwrite retro property reinsurance for both Markel and New Point.”

Most recently Richardson served as Executive Vice President, Underwriting Strategy & Risk Analytics at Alterra Capital. Before that he worked at Harbor Point Re, Platinum Re, St. Paul Re and F&G Re, all in senior underwriting roles.

With experience of underwriting both traditional reinsurance and collateralized retrocession, as well as some exposure to raising of third-party capital in his work with New Point and his knowledge of the firm in its former branding, Richardson is the ideal candidate to take over the role it would seem. He is officially only acting head of retro reinsurance for now and it will be interesting to see if Markel hire another senior retro underwriter as well or whether Richardson transitions into the vacant ‘head of’ role..

Vezina, ex-head of retro at Markel recently moved to AQR Re Ltd, the Bermuda based reinsurance firm which operates as an affiliate of global investment-management firm AQR Capital Management, where he becomes Chief Underwriting Officer.