Bermuda Insurance Institute Announces 2012 Industry Award Winners

The Bermuda Insurance Institute (BII) announced the winners of the 2012 Insurance Industry Awards.

The Insurance Industry Awards recognizes exceptional individuals and companies whose leadership skills, contributions to the industry, and/or Bermuda community set them apart from their peers. Recipients will be honored at a ceremony to be held on May 16, 2013 at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

This year the following persons will be added to the distinguished list of winners.

The Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes an individual who distinguishes his/herself in the industry over the course of their career and has influenced and developed organizations, products, talent or industry networks with a view to building the future success of the Bermuda market, will be awarded to insurance industry veteran Roger Gillett.

Gillett was past chairman of the Insurance Development Council. He devoted his life before and after retirement to developing and promoting Bermuda as a domicile and market of choice within the global (re)insurance industry.

During his career, which spaned more than 40 years, he was at the forefront of significant market developments. At Johnson & Higgins where he worked for some 20 years, he was responsible for developing their global captive management operations and attracted many captives to the island. In November 1997 he joined ACE Bermuda as senior vice president Business Development. During his time with ACE Bermuda he held progressively senior roles, including president of ACE Risk Management International, before retiring in July 2007.

For almost two decades, he served, by Government appointment, on the Insurance Advisory Committee (“IAC”) including as Chairman of the IAC Marketing Committee, the Insurance Development Council and as past president of the Bermuda Insurance Institute Council.

He was one of the founders and the first chairman of the young members section of the BII in 1979. Gillett was past president of the Bermuda Insurance Managers Association. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and holds an Associate in Risk Management.

He was instrumental in helping to establish the Bermuda Captive Insurance Conference and the Bermuda Insurance Underwriting Conference which continues as a successful annual insurance event. Gillett serves as a director on a number of companies here and overseas. Last year he was appointed the chairman of the Bermuda Branch of the Institute of Directors.

The Insurance Leader of the Year Award, which recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to the insurance industry in Bermuda during 2012 through outstanding leadership, unique thought leadership or outstanding ability that has influenced the market in a positive way beyond the results of their organization, will go to founder and CEO of Bermuda-registered Catlin Group Stephen Catlin.

He has led Catlin for 30 years taking it from inception in 1984 as a two person syndicate of Lloyd’s of London to a US $5 billion international insurer with more than 55 offices in 21 countries. Catlin incorporated a holding company in Bermuda in 1999, originally called Catlin Westgen Holding Limited and later renamed Catlin Group Limited. Catlin was the first of the traditional Lloyd’s of London managing agents to establish a holding company in Bermuda. He was chairman of the Lloyd’s Market Association, the trade association representing the interests of Lloyd’s underwriters and underwriting agents, from May 2000 to January 2003.

During 2001 he helped plan the restructuring of Society of Lloyd’s as a member of the Chairman’s Strategy Group. He serves as chairman of the Board of Catlin Insurance Company Ltd., Catlin Bermuda, Catlin Syndicate, Catlin UK and Catlin Insurance Company (UK) Ltd. He also serves as a director of Catlin Group Limited. Stephen has been active in the Bermuda business community for well over a decade. He became deputy chairman of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers this year. He was also granted an Associateship of the Chartered Insurance Institute from the Chartered Insurance Institute in the UK in 2012.

The Young Industry Leader of the Year Award, which recognizes an individual under the age of 35 who over the previous year has made a significant contribution to his/her organization, promoted professionalism, ethics and the development of talent and technical expertise, and focused on achievement in both their career and the wider community in Bermuda, will be presented to Chris Estwanik.

Estwanik is an assistant vice president, Underwriting at Validus Services (Bermuda) Ltd. Chris joined Validus in 2007 as an analyst and during the past five years was promoted to assistant underwriter, then underwriter then to his current position.

He completed the Associate of Reinsurance (ARe) in 10 months and gained his Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 18 months. He is an active member of the Bermuda CPCU Society and the Bermuda Independent Underwriters Association.

Also, for the first time in the history of the Insurance Industry Awards, a Corporate Social Responsibility Award will be presented to a company – The Argus Group, for their socially responsible leadership which has benefitted many facets of the Bermuda community.

The selection committee felt that although there are larger organizations in Bermuda with well established charitable foundations that contribute very significant resources to community needs, what stood out about The Argus Group was how completely integrated the charitable and community mindset is throughout their entire organization, and how they focus their efforts on a day-to-day basis. Their focus on community education, promotion of health and positive lifestyles and their very deep reach into the broad community with a limited resource pool is hugely impressive. The selection committee felt the management and staff at The Argus Group deserved to be recognized for this ongoing commitment to improving life in Bermuda.

CEO of the BII Dawnnelle Walker congratulated the recipients and said: “There are many talented persons working in the Insurance and Reinsurance industry in Bermuda. The industry also provides a great deal of support to the Bermuda community. The Bermuda Insurance Industry Awards gives us an opportunity to recognize professional excellence and community commitment. The BII Awards Ceremony is a celebration of the industry’s achievements.”

Source: BII