60 Seconds with Joel Livingston

Joel Livingston, the recently appointed chief underwriting officer of Arch Re, talks to Intelligent Insurer about stepping up to his new role, dealing with the competitive reinsurance market and his love of the water.

Why is this move right for you at this stage in your career?

As a former competitor of Arch, I have admired the knowledge and skill of their underwriting team and the overall success of the company. As a technically advanced company that finds creative solutions for their trading partners, Arch a particularly attractive opportunity in this difficult stage of the market. I am honoured to serve as chief underwriter for Arch Reinsurance Company and know that there will be high standards for the quality of what we do in serving our customers.

What will you bring to the role?

Over the course of my career, I have had opportunities in insurance, facultative reinsurance, and traditional and non-traditional treaty reinsurance. My skills have been honed through hard and soft markets and I look forward to sharing those experiences with my colleagues.

What are your initial objectives in the new role?

Arch has a team oriented approach to underwriting and I will need to earn my position on the team as their new chief underwriter. I hope to leverage my experience into Arch's underwriting process and to generate profitable opportunities for the company. The Arch team is not afraid of a challenge and has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to compete and out hustle the competition. Finally, reinsurance remains a relationship business and I look forward to the long term build out of the company's scope and reach into the re/insurance marketplace.

What will be your biggest challenge in the new role?

Clearly the competitive reinsurance market will be the greatest challenge as we seek to navigate deteriorating markets. The Arch team has proven that it can accomplish these tasks by generating better returns than its peer group and my job is to continue to support this tradition.

Why did you choose to work in this industry initially?

Like many of us in the insurance industry, I would say I fell into it rather than chose it. I was a political science major in college and was mulling over whether I wanted to go to law school. During this time of indecision the rent needed to be paid so I found my first job working for Continental Insurance in New Orleans, Louisiana.

If you had chosen a different profession/career path, what would it have been?

I love spending time on the water and I suppose a career in the marine industry after college could have been a possibility. My guess is it would have been hard to raise a family if I chose that path over insurance.

What are you doing when you are not at work?

I spend time with my family, time out on the water, or both!

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.

I recently took up offshore yacht racing with a friend who is also in our industry. So far I have three races, about 2000 miles and hopefully more to come.