Cooper Gay appoints Venezuela head

Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford (CGSC) has appointed Rafael Arocha as head of Cooper Gay’s business production in Venezuela.

Arocha, who will start immediately, will be based at Cooper Gay’s regional headquarters in Miami. He will report to Steve Jackson, regional CEO for Latin America and Ulisses Soares COO for Latin America.

Arocha joined Cooper Gay Suramérica in 2007 as commercial director to support its Venezuelan accounts. He has previously worked at other international reinsurance brokers and, before becoming a broker, held Latin American engineering and property reinsurance underwriting positions with Münchener de Venezuela and Americana de Reaseguros.

In his new role, Arocha will be responsible for the development of Cooper Gay’s facultative and treaty business for key Venezuelan markets including energy, property, construction, marine and aviation risks.

“Venezuela has been an important market for Cooper Gay for over 20 years. By appointing Rafael as country head we intend to continue to grow our market share and enhance our service abilities,” said Jackson.

“His considerable local knowledge of both underwriting and broking will contribute greatly both to Cooper Gay’s expansion in Venezuela and Latin America has a whole.”