Hamilton, Bermuda (January 24, 2024) — The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) has announced that the Board has elected Mark Cloutier, Executive Chair and Group Chief Executive Officer at Aspen, as First Deputy Chair at ABIR.

Cloutier replaces Christopher Schaper, now American International Group’s Global Chief Underwriting Officer, who stepped down as Validus Re CEO following RenaissanceRe’s acquisition of Validus Re in November last year.

Pina Albo, Chair of ABIR and CEO of Hamilton Insurance Group, Ltd., said: “First, I want to thank Chris for his service to ABIR. He has been a strong voice representing the interests of the Bermuda market and a consistent advocate for robust, open and well-regulated global insurance markets.

“We are delighted that Mark has agreed to bring his extensive industry experience and leadership pedigree to the role of ABIR Deputy Chair. It is a measure of the deep bench of talent in the Bermuda re/insurance market that we are able to replace one world-class executive with another.”

Stephen Catlin, Executive Chair of Convex, will continue to serve as ABIR’s Second Deputy Chair on a slate of officers that also includes past chairs, Marc Grandisson, CEO of Arch Capital Group, and Kevin O’Donnell, CEO of RenaissanceRe.

Cloutier, who was appointed to lead Aspen in February 2019, has more than 35 years of insurance and reinsurance industry experience in multiple jurisdictions including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Continental Europe, Asia, China, South Africa and Bermuda.

Prior to joining Aspen, Cloutier held senior leadership roles for seven years at the Brit Group, first as CEO and then as Executive Chairman. He led a major restructuring of Brit’s global business, and oversaw a successful initial public offering and listing on the London stock exchange in 2014 and the subsequent acquisition of the business by Fairfax Financial Holdings in 2015.

Previously he served as CEO of the Alea Group, CEO of Overseas Partners Re and President of E.W. Blanch Insurance Services. He was a member of the Franchise Board and Audit Committee of the Society of Lloyd’s between February 2015 and June 2020 and was appointed to the Nomination and Governance Committee in February 2017.

Cloutier also serves on the Board of Overseers of the Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science, which is partnering with ABIR and Bermuda College to provide the open-to-all “Special Topics in Insurance” online course for a fourth consecutive year.

Mark Cloutier said: “I feel honoured to be serving as Deputy Chair of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers. I am inspired by the work that ABIR does to ensure Bermuda is represented and recognized as the international insurance and reinsurance hub that it is, and I look forward to engaging in the meaningful and collaborative conversations that ABIR is leading on so many important topics for our sector.”

Continuing to serve as leaders of ABIR’s Policy Committee are Co-Chair Jevon Williams, General Counsel of Chubb Bermuda; Co-Chair Jim Paugh, General Counsel of Arch Reinsurance Ltd.; and Deputy Chair Shannon Lowry Bender, Group General Counsel of RenaissanceRe.

ABIR also continues to advocate for the island’s leading international re/insurers in matters related to the changing taxation landscape. The passage of Bermuda’s landmark Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Act in December highlights the importance of the work of ABIR Tax Directors.  Joy Tegtmeyer, SVP, Head of Group Tax at RenaissanceRe, and Jeff Thompson, Global Head of Tax at Arch Capital Group, serve as co-chairs of the group.

John Huff, CEO of ABIR, said: “The Bermuda Government has worked collaboratively with industry and tax experts through consultation to develop this technical framework and closing it out in 2023 with the legislation was an important and essential first phase. 

“Likewise, the next two phases of the CIT in 2024 will be critical to success, including reducing the cost of doing business by reviewing existing taxes, and building ‘Qualified Refundable Tax Credits’, along with establishing a Tax Administration framework to codify the Government’s commitment to fiscal responsibility.”

ABIR has also established the ABIR Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Forum, a new group with Benjamin Meuli, Chief Investment Officer of Convex, as its initial Chair. The forum’s objective is to strengthen cohesion across the Bermuda re/insurance industry with respect to investment management by bringing together CIOs to share ideas and challenges around financial markets, macroeconomics and regulation in the context of today’s challenging, volatile and complex investment environment.

Photo caption: L to R, Top to Bottom

Pina Albo; Mark Cloutier; Stephen Catlin

Jevon Williams; Jim Paugh; Shannon Bender

Joy Tegtmeyer; Jeff Thompson; Benji Meuli

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About ABIR: The Association of Bermuda Insurers & Reinsurers (ABIR), which represents Bermuda’s major property and casualty insurers and reinsurers doing business in 150 countries, was founded in 1993. For three decades, the Bermuda market’s risk-bearing capacity has played a key role in enabling insurance to be accessible and affordable, to the benefit of consumers around the world. Bermuda is an internationally recognized center of global expertise on underwriting for catastrophe, climate, cyber, mortgage & credit risk transfer products, along with other specialty insurance and reinsurance. For more information, please visit: www.abir.bm. Follow us on Twitter @ABIR_Bermuda.