Liberty Mutual Insurance appoints chief underwriting officer for specialty markets arm

Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM) – part of global insurer Liberty Mutual Insurance’s global risk solutions (GRS) division – has appointed Rachel Conran as its new chief underwriting officer, effective from 1 January 2023.

Upon starting in her new role, Conran will be based in Cologne, Germany and will report to Matthew Moore, president of GRS’ office of underwriting, as well as Phil Hobbs, president and managing director of LSM.

She will have responsibility for overall underwriting performance across LSM.

Speaking on Conran’s appointment, Hobbs said: “Rachel’s proven specialty underwriting and leadership skills, together with her track record of delivering impressive underwriting performance, made her the ideal candidate for the role.

“Her expertise, passion and collaboration will add value to clients and brokers.”

Conran’s appointment follows the hire of Martin Vince earlier this month (November 2022) - he is LSM’s head of broker management, based in London.

A talented leader

Conran will join LSM from Intact Financial Corporation – she most recently worked as chief executive and a board member of RSA Luxembourg.

Over the course of her 20-year career to date, Conran has worked at reinsurer Scor, as well as served tenures at insurers Allianz and AIG.

Moore added: “Our ambition when we created the GRS office of underwriting was to build a team of talented leaders who can drive results through underwriting excellence, consistent global product strategies and a common view of risk.

“Rachel’s appointment completes the GRS team of chief underwriting officers. We will focus on bringing LSM’s expertise and offerings to help clients and brokers across GRS manage complex risks.”

LSM provides specialty and commercial (re)insurance products in the UK, Europe, Middle East, US, Bermuda, Asia Pacific and Latin America via both the company and Lloyd’s markets.

The business employs 2,000 staff across 60 offices.