Liberty shakes up global leadership with senior Travelers hire

Liberty Mutual Insurance has bolstered its global executive leadership team with two newly created positions to help expand its offerings and improve underwriting profitability.

The insurer has promoted Matthew Moore (pictured left) to president of underwriting at its Global Risk Solutions division and hired former Travelers executive Susanne Figueredo Cook (pictured center) as chief operating officer.

Additionally, Phil Hobbs (pictured right) is appointed president of Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM), succeeding Moore. Moore and Figueredo Cook will report to GRS president Neeti Bhalla Johnson, who joined the business less than a year ago.

Moore will continue to be based in London. Previously, he served as president of LSM GRS' global specialty operation and has over 25 years of experience in the industry, working for Liberty Mutual in roles of increasing responsibility for the past two decades.

In his new role, Moore will help drive performance through a consistent global culture of underwriting discipline, portfolio management and product leadership.

Figueredo Cook joins Liberty Mutual from Travelers Insurance, where she worked for more than 20 years in various leadership positions, including underwriting, claims and global operations. She will help optimize GRS’ global operations and integrated processes, aimed to increase efficiency and value for clients and broker partners.

Hobbs has over 20 years of experience in the industry and has served LSM for more than 15 years in a range of leadership roles. His previous position was deputy managing director, where he was responsible for developing and implementing underwriting strategy, and prior to this he was chief actuary for over a decade. Hobbs is an experienced executive who has been on both internal and external market boards. Him and Moore will continue to work together throughout the transition.

Bhalla Johnson said: “We’re a leading global commercial and specialty carrier recognized for our values-driven brand, product and geographic breadth, and commitment to working with our clients to help solve their evolving risk needs.

“We’ve made progress in working collaboratively across our business yet acknowledge more work needs to be done to make it easier for our broker partners and clients to access the strength of our offerings.”

“These new leadership roles, and the integrated operating model they represent, mark an inflection point in building a high-performance culture that brings global expertise to every client interaction and delivers consistent underwriting profitability,” she added.

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