UPC chief moves to property cat specialist GeoVera

United Insurance Holdings' (UPC) chief executive officer  John Forney has moved to specialty residential property insurance provider GeoVera Insurance Holdings.

Forney has been appointed as the company's CEO and member of the board of directors effective July 1, 2020.

He succeeds Kevin Nish, who has served as GeoVera's president and CEO since November 2005 and has been responsible for managing the business since its formation as a division of USF&G in 1993. Nish will continue to serve as a member of GeoVera's Board.

Forney comes to GeoVera with 20 years of experience advising and leading catastrophe insurance entities. He joins the company most recently from UPC Insurance, a specialised property catastrophe insurance writer with a diversified $1.3 billion book of business in twelve coastal states.

"Over the last 27 years, Kevin has built GeoVera into the leading underwriter of specialty residential property risk in the United States, and we thank him for his outstanding leadership," said Chris Ackerman, managing director of Flexpoint Ford, the Company's financial sponsor and majority shareholder. "We are excited to welcome John to GeoVera and look forward to working with him to build on the legacy that Kevin has established of applying sophisticated underwriting techniques to consistently achieve attractive returns in the catastrophe exposed property insurance market."

Nish added: "I am confident that John is the right person at the right time for GeoVera. John has a proven track record in the specialty property insurance market and experience with a range of strategies that will be key to the continued success of GeoVera. His extensive background in catastrophe insurance markets will provide valuable insights to the company. I have great confidence in his ability to continue to build on the excellent platform we have created at GeoVera, and I am excited to have John leading our company during its next phase."

Forney commented: have watched GeoVera for years and admired the tremendous job Kevin and his team have done to build a market-leading specialty residential insurance platform. I look forward to working with the employees of GeoVera to continue to serve the company's customers and distribution partners with unique insurance solutions for catastrophe exposed property risks."