Venture Underwriters hires Tokio Marine talent in California

Venture Underwriters, a division of Allstar Financial Group, has expanded its California underwriting team will the appointment of commercial underwriting specialist Matt Gaffner.

Gaffner will be joining the Pasadena office as vice president specialising in primary general liability.

In his previous role, Gaffner was an assistant vice president of primary casualty for Tokio Marine Specialty Insurance Services in California. Prior to that, Gaffner held positions of increasing responsibility at carriers such as XL Global Risk and American International Group (AIG).

Venture underwrites surplus lines risks that are produced exclusively by wholesale brokers.

Michael Johnson, Venture Underwriting senior vice president, said: "With more than 20 years of commercial underwriting experience working for various companies in both New York and Los Angeles, Matt brings with him a wealth of industry knowledge. He will play an integral part in continuing to expand Venture's footprint throughout the West Coast."

Gaffner commented: "I am thrilled to join the Venture West Coast team, and will strive to become an asset to our brokers by providing exceptional service and a cumulative knowledge specific to the E&S marketplace."