Claims People: The Hartford, Tokio Marine, ABL and WTW

The Hartford has appointed Stephen Deane as head of claims and operations to replace Mary Nasenberry, who will retire at the end of the year.

Deane is returning to The Hartford after three years with Liberty Mutual Insurance, where he served as executive vice president and chief claims officer for Global Risk Solutions, North America, the carrier said in a press release. Before joining Liberty Mutual, he worked for more than 16. Years at the Hartford in variouls leadership roles, including senior vice president of group benefits and workers’ compensation claims.

Deane was also an attorney at Robinson & Cole LLP and managed a claims team at Travelers, the Hartford said. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dam and juris doctor from the University of Connecticut.

Nasenberry joined the Hartford in 1999 as legal counsel and was named chief claims officer in 2021, the company said. She holds a patent on the Hartford’s customer loyalty index process and was a founding leader of the company’s health services organization.

Tokio Marine HCC, an international specialty insurer, has appointed as senior vice president and head of cyber claims and incident response.

She reports to Group President Michael Palotay. Her appointment was effective Sept. 25.

Lyle oversees the Tokio group’s cyber claims department and incident response team.

“Catherine is an extraordinary talent whose mastery of cyber claims and coverage across multiple carriers will be critical to our success in the next growth phase,” Palotay said in a press release.

Lyle previously served as head of claims at cyber insurer Coalition, where she was the first woman to join the organization and grew its claims team from one to 18 people in just a few years, Tokio Marine said. She focused on cyberattack resolution and worked closely with underwriting to ensure proper policy wording for insureds.

Lyle was also a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is a published author and a privacy attorney who speaks globally on cyber trends, law and claims, Tokio Marine said. She has worked on legislation that became cyber privacy laws and recently spoke at the internationally known cybersecurity event, Black Hat USA 2023, the carrier said.

ABL, a London-based marine casualty management consulting company, has hired Paul Johnston as client relationship director for its European maritime team.

Johnston will work closely with protection and indemnity carriers and marine law firms, ABL said in a press release.

Johnston was previously a senior claims executive with NorthStandard Limited for 11 years. He is also a master mariner with 18 seafaring years working for major shipping companies.

“Paul’s wealth of knowledge from his P&I club background, enables us to bring significant added value to clients across the insurance and legal industries,” stated Paul Martin, managing director maritime (Europe and W. Africa) at ABL.

Insurance brokerage WTW has appointed Rob Powell as global chief claims officer. He will join the firm in 2024 and report to Adam Garrard, global head of risk and broking.

Powell was previously global chief claims officer at Marsh McLennan, where he oversaw claims operations, advocacy and forensic advisory services. Before that, he was global chief claims officer for Torus Insurance and head of first party for Xchanging, according to his LinkedIn page.

Powell will align claims teams working with WTW’s specialist industry practices and use data and analytics to deliver claims services to clients, the London-based brokerage said in a press release.