Zurich North America taps insider for Pro-Fin & cyber leadership

The Zurich insurance group has tapped its own talent pool for a new head of professional liability and cyber for US national accounts.

Kara Higginbotham has been with the team since 2018, mostly recently leading the corporate accounts client segment and will now will lead a team of fellow underwriters to serve Zurich’s largest US corporate and middle market companies.  Higginbotham will report to Brian Zink, head of financial lines for US national accounts.

Higginbotham’s mandate is to develop and execute the underwriting strategy for retail professional liability and cyber insurance offerings. She is also expected to collaborate with excess & surplus (E&S) teams and the SpearTip cyber risk management team within Zurich Resilience Solutions. 

Higginbotham will remain atop the corporate accounts segment at the professional liability and cyber desk until a successor can be named. In this role, she has focused on providing solutions for large companies with respect to security & privacy; miscellaneous professional liability; technology errors & omissions; and employed lawyers liability coverages.

Brian Zink, head of financial lines for US national accounts, said: “Kara has more than 16 years of Financial Lines underwriting experience and brings technical acumen as well as strong relationships with customers and brokers to the role. Her deep understanding of the current portfolio adds to her qualifications for this position."

Higginbotham said: “In this new role, I look forward to the opportunity to serve Zurich's Professional Liability & Cyber team in a broader capacity along with the rest of the management team, Robert Malone [Head of Middle Market Professional Liability and Cyber] and Stephen Pannucci [Head of Wholesale Professional Liability and Cyber]. We will continue to explore areas for profitable growth and ways to support our customers’ needs now and in the future.”

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