Berkshire Hathaway entices Bolt away from Lloyd’s

Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance (BHIIL) has named Tom Bolt, Lloyd's performance director, as its new president for the UK and Southern Europe, affective from, June 1.

Gregor Koehler, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Pallas Versicherung, has also been appointed as president, Northern Europe, effective immediately.

Bolt will also assume the role of chief executive officer and he and Koehler will become members of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance.

BHII will also offer a specialty insurance solution to Europe with its affiliate, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI).

Bolt has extensive experience in insurance and reinsurance, spanning the UK, Europe, and the US. Before his role at Lloyd’s, he was managing director of Marlborough Managing Agency and spent 25 years at the Berkshire Hathaway Group in a variety of senior executive roles, including senior vice president (SVP) of the reinsurance division, and managing director of Tenecom and BHIIL. Bolt will be based in London.

Before Koehler’s role at Pallas Versicherung, which is the global insurance division of Bayer Group, he was senior vice president at Marsh and managing director, corporate risk management and insurance, at Bertelsmann, a global media and services company.

He was also assistant vice president and SVP of corporate risk management and insurance at Mannesmann (now Vodafone).

Koehler is based in BHSI’s new office in Duesseldorf.

“Establishing European capabilities is a natural next step in the maturation of BHSI, and an important milestone in growing our global footprint,” said Peter Eastwood, president and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI).

He added: “We are pleased to have the top-calibre talents of Tom and Gregor to lead the efforts to build a team in the UK and Europe.”