Markel makes leadership appointments for new Markel Specialty unit

Markel Corporation has made four promotions for its newly created division that will trade under the Markel Specialty banner from April 1 and will represent some $4 billion in gross written premiums.

The new division, formed by combining its existing US insurance divisions – assurance and specialty, will preserve the regional model that was part of its Assurance operations and add two new overarching territories (East and West) to foster a more consistent customer experience.

Under the organisational change, Wendy Houser and Sarah Gavlick have been named to the newly created roles of executive territory officers, responsible for overseeing the existing regional structure with the goal to further simplify Markel for its customers. Houser will manage the West territory, which includes the Mid South, Midwest and West regions, and Gavlick will manage the East territory, made up of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions.

Both executives will report to Bryan Sanders, who will lead the newly created division as president, Markel Specialty.

Most recently, Houser was regional president for Assurance's Mid South region and Gavlick was regional president for Assurance's Northeast region.

Furthermore, the company has promoted Alison Burgess to regional president for the Northeast region, and Daniel Kennedy to regional president for the Mid South region.

Burgess currently serves as senior director of underwriting and production, management and professional liability, for the Northeast region, and Kennedy is managing director, leading the sales team for specialty's commercial group.

"Wendy and Sarah are proven leaders with deep industry understanding and expertise. They will help us leverage the power of the Markel platform and our regional structure to create the best customer experience in the industry," said Sanders.

"Dan and Alison are exceptional leaders with considerable industry experience and knowledge, who also have a track record of developing high-performing teams," he added. "We are confident they will only build on the successful regional operations Sarah and Wendy established."