Beazley builds US commercial property capability

Specialist insurer Beazley has appointed Matthew Westhoff as head of US large commercial property based in New York.

Reporting to Beazley’s global head of commercial property, Simon Jackson, Westhoff will manage the US-based team, working alongside the property team in London. He brings 16 years of insurance experience and was previously a vice president at Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, leading the Northeast region property underwriting team from 2014. Prior to that, he spent five years at AIG as a senior property underwriter and regional property leader for the New York Metropolitan region.

In addition, Ashley Irwin has joined Beazley as a commercial property underwriter, also in New York. She has more than 12 years of underwriting and broking experience, joining Beazley from Ironshore, a Liberty Mutual company, where she was a general property underwriter. Prior to this, she spent 11 years at Marsh & McLennan Companies as a property broker.

Following his secondment to New York to develop the US team’s strategy, underwriter Henry O’Kill will return to Beazley’s London office in late 2020.

Jackson said: “I’m delighted to appoint two highly experienced, specialist underwriters to our commercial property team in the United States. We continue to focus on forging strategic relationships with brokers and large property clients and to ensure we are well represented in both London and the U.S. in order to provide them with greater choice and accessibility to our underwriters.”

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