News Details

ZURICH--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ACE Limited announced today the future claims leadership team it intends to appoint for the company’s North America Insurance division. The appointments will take effect upon completion of the acquisition of Chubb, which is expected in the first quarter of next year.

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Jeffrey J. Miller will serve as Executive Vice President, Senior Claims Officer, North America – Casualty, Workers Compensation and Accident & Health. Currently, Mr. Miller is Senior Vice President, Worldwide Third Party Claim Manager and Senior Claim Legal Officer for Chubb. Douglas Poetzsch will serve as Executive Vice President, Senior Claims Officer, North America – Property and Professional Liability. Currently, Mr. Poetzsch is Executive Vice President and Head of North American Claims for ACE.

Mr. Miller and Mr. Poetzsch will have executive responsibility for all aspects of claims management for the North America Insurance division, which as previously announced will be led by John Lupica, who will serve as Vice Chairman of the new Chubb Group and Co-President of the North America Insurance division, and Dino E. Robusto, who will serve as Executive Vice President of the new Chubb Group and Co-President of the North America Insurance division. Mr. Miller and Mr. Poetzsch will be responsible for executing the company’s overall claims strategy for the division’s six major business units, including National Accounts, Middle Market, Small Commercial, Personal Insurance, Wholesale/Excess and Surplus Lines, and Agriculture. They will also have responsibility for establishing claims processes and protocols required to serve policyholders and the company’s distribution network of agents and brokers. Mr. Miller and Mr. Poetzsch will jointly report to Mr. Robusto and Frank Lattal, Chief Claims Officer for ACE Group who as previously announced will continue to serve in that role.

Technical Practice Towers Leadership

The North American claims organization will be organized by major product line with four Technical Practice Towers: Property, Casualty, Professional Liability, and Workers Compensation and A&H. The executives leading each tower will be responsible for overall claims adjudication within their technical tower including claims quality; execution of the company’s claims strategy including delivery of superior claims service; establishing best practices; and claim outcomes. Each executive will also be responsible for managing and developing the technical tower claims staff in collaboration with Senior Claims Officers and Regional Claim Managers. The tower leaders will also play a key role in integrating technical resources of the combined ACE-Chubb organization.

William C. Turnbull, Jr. will serve as Senior Vice President and lead the Property Technical Practice Tower. In this role, in addition to commercial property claims, Mr. Turnbull will also be responsible for the vast majority of high net worth personal lines homeowner property and first party automobile claims. Currently Senior Vice President, Worldwide First Party Claim Manager for Chubb, Mr. Turnbull will report to Mr. Poetzsch.

Norm Rafsol will serve as Executive Vice President and lead the Professional Lines Technical Practice Tower. Currently Executive Vice President, Senior Claims Officer, Professional Risk Claims for ACE, Mr. Rafsol will report to Mr. Poetzsch.

Jeff Block will serve as Senior Vice President and lead the Workers Compensation and A&H Technical Practice Tower. Currently Senior Vice President, Senior Claims Officer, Workers Compensation and A&H Claims for ACE, Mr. Block will report to Mr. Miller.

Mr. Miller will lead the Casualty Technical Practice Tower in addition to his role as Senior Claims Officer. He will also be responsible for the North American House Counsel, Chubb’s captive law firm that will be integrated with the combined company.

Regional Claims Management Leadership

David P. Mc Keon will serve as Senior Vice President and lead the Regional Claims Management field organization. Currently, Mr. Mc Keon is Senior Vice President, Eastern Claim Territory Manager for Chubb. He will be responsible for aligning the claims organization with the business plans and objectives of the company’s Regional Executive Officers and Regional Chief Operating Officers and managing the company’s claims relationships with local agents, brokers and customers. Mr. Mc Keon will also act as a key decision maker and escalation point for claims service issues, supporting Senior Claims Officers and Technical Practice Tower leaders in staff management and executing key claims initiatives. He will report to Mr. Miller.

Claim Service Centers Leadership

Clyde Douglas will serve as Senior Vice President and lead the company’s four North American Claims Service Centers in Chesapeake, Va., O’Fallon, Mo., Phoenix and Simsbury, Conn. Mr. Douglas is currently Senior Vice President, Chief Claims Officer, for ACE Private Risk Services. Mr. Douglas will have executive responsibility for intake and registration of all First Notices of Loss and customer inquiries as well as final adjudication of all service center claims, which will represent more than half of the total claim volume in the new North American organization. He will report to Mr. Poetzsch.

North American Claims Operations Leadership

Susan Watts will serve as Senior Vice President and lead operations for all North American Claims. Ms. Watts is currently Senior Vice President, Global Claim Center Manager for Chubb. She will oversee claims operational processing and support with matrixed responsibility for field and operations staff in the Claim Service Centers. In addition, Ms. Watts will be responsible for shared services, including third party administrator oversight, claims accounting, reporting and compliance; oversight and coordination with Group Claims of quality assurance, counter-fraud, recovery and the legal bill audit teams; and training and licensing. Ms. Watts will also assume executive claims oversight responsibility for the combined company’s Canadian claims organization. She will report to Mr. Poetzsch.

Multinational Claims Leadership

Krista Glenn will serve as Senior Vice President and lead the Multinational Claims team. Ms. Glenn is currently Senior Vice President, Senior Claims Officer, Multinational Claims, for ACE. She will have responsibility for the coordination of claims for global accounts; executive oversight of North American claims handled in territories outside the U.S.; management of the team responsible for claims commenced in the U.S. from the company’s international customers; and marketing and relationship building with the company’s Global Accounts, Client Advisory Board and National Accounts customers. She will report to Mr. Miller.

Bermuda and Brandywine Holdings Claims Leadership

The claims operations for Bermuda, which will include the integrated operations of ACE Bermuda and Chubb Atlantic, will continue to be run by Jeff Trimarchi, Senior Vice President, Claims and Claims Counsel for ACE, and report to Mr. Lattal and Joseph S. Clabby, who as previously announced will serve as Division President, Bermuda and Global Accounts. Brandywine Holdings, which comprises the North American run-off operations of ACE, will continue to be run by Bob Omrod, President, Brandywine Holdings, and report to Mr. Lupica and Mr. Lattal.

“Claims is the fundamental promise of what we sell in every insurance product,” said Evan G. Greenberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ACE Group. “ACE and Chubb share a passion and discipline for underwriting excellence as well as outstanding quality claims and loss control service. I have every confidence in the experience, vision and commitment of this team to lead a claims organization that is unparalleled in the industry.”

“Our future claims leadership team demonstrates the depth of experience of the combined company and truly represents the best of both Chubb and ACE,” said Mr. Lattal. “Jeff, Doug, Bill, Norm, Jeff, Dave, Clyde, Susan and Krista are seasoned leaders with exceptional management, operational and technical claims expertise. I look forward to working with my current and future colleagues to deliver an exceptional claims experience for our policyholders and distribution partners alike.”

“There is nothing more important to clients than having their claim handled fairly and promptly. We stake our reputation on this every day,” said Paul J. Krump, who as previously announced will serve as Executive Vice President for Global Underwriting and Claims for the parent company. “This claims leadership team understands what it takes to deliver superior claims service and will be ready to hit the ground running.”

Leadership Biographies

Jeffrey J. Miller has 28 years of insurance industry and related legal experience. As Worldwide Third Party Claim Manager and Senior Claim Legal Officer for Chubb, he is responsible for the management and resolution of all claims in Casualty, Professional Liability and Workers Compensation business lines. He is also responsible for leading Senior Claim Committees and for overseeing the Internal Coverage, Corporate Liability, and Litigation Management units of the Claim Department, as well as the House Counsel operation. Mr. Miller joined Chubb in 2007 as the Managing Attorney of the New Jersey House Counsel office. Prior to joining Chubb, Mr. Miller was a partner in the law firm of DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick, Cole & Wisler where his practice consisted of complex commercial litigation. He also served in government as both the Director of the Division of Law and the Assistant Attorney General in Charge of Litigation in the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office. Prior to that, Mr. Miller was a partner and associate in the law firm of Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti. Mr. Miller started his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable John W. Bissell of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Mr. Miller received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Hobart College and his JD from Fordham University School of Law.

Douglas Poetzsch has 25 years of insurance industry and related legal experience. As Executive Vice President, Head of Claims for ACE’s North American claim unit, Mr. Poetzsch oversees six claims practices that handle the wide variety of commercial insurance products offered by ACE USA, ACE Westchester and ACE Commercial Risk Services. Mr. Poetzsch joined ACE in 2004, and most recently served as Executive Vice President, ACE USA Claims, a position to which he was appointed in 2010. Prior to this, he served as Executive Vice President, Head of ACE USA Specialty Claims and Chief Technical Officer. Before joining ACE, he held senior claims management positions at The Navigators Group, Gulf Insurance Group and American International Group (AIG). Mr. Poetzsch is a non-practicing CPA and lawyer, who received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from Siena College in Loudonville, New York, and a JD from Fordham University School of Law.

About ACE Group

ACE Group is one of the world’s largest multiline property and casualty insurers. With operations in 54 countries, ACE provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. ACE Limited, the parent company of ACE Group, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ACE) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Additional information can be found at: www.acegroup.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

All forward-looking statements made in this communication, related to the acquisition of Chubb, potential post-acquisition performance or otherwise, reflect ACE’s current views with respect to future events, business transactions and business performance and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” ”expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “could,” “future,” “project” or other words of similar meaning. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from those contained in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the proposed transaction involving ACE and Chubb, including future financial results; ACE’s and Chubb’s plans, objectives, expectations and intentions; the expected timing of completion of the transaction and other statements that are not historical facts. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from those indicated by the forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the following: the inability to complete the transaction in a timely manner; the failure to satisfy other conditions to completion of the transaction, including receipt of required regulatory approvals; the failure of the proposed transaction to close for any other reason; the possibility that any of the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction will not be realized; the risk that integration of Chubb’s operations with those of ACE will be materially delayed or will be more costly or difficult than expected; the challenges of integrating and retaining key employees; the effect of the announcement of the transaction on ACE’s, Chubb’s or the combined company’s respective business relationships, operating results and business generally; the possibility that the anticipated synergies and cost savings of the merger will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period; the possibility that the transaction may be more expensive to complete than anticipated, including as a result of unexpected factors or events; diversion of management’s attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities; general competitive, economic, political and market conditions and fluctuations; and actions taken or conditions imposed by the United States and foreign governments and regulatory authorities. In addition, you should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties and other factors that may affect future results of the combined company described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the joint proxy statement/prospectus dated September 11, 2015 that was delivered to ACE’s and Chubb’s respective shareholders, and in ACE’s and Chubb’s respective filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) that are available on the SEC’s website, located at www.sec.gov, including the sections entitled “Risk Factors” in ACE’s Annual Report on Form 10–K for the year ended December 31, 2014, which was filed with the SEC on February 27, 2015, and “Risk Factors” in Chubb’s Annual Report on Form 10–K for the year ended December 31, 2014, which was filed with the SEC on February 26, 2015. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this communication. ACE undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Source: ACE Limited