AXA XL’s North America Construction business has promoted three within its Subcontractor Default Insurance business, including the appointments of Cyrus Manekshaw and Ian Sadler to Underwriting Directors and Cheri Hanes to SDI Construction Risk Engineering Manager.
In their new Underwriting Director roles, Manekshaw and Sadler will be responsible for maintaining the underwriting excellence and profitability of AXA XL’s SDI business, including implementing best practices and strategy development as well as maintaining key broker and client relationships.
Since joining AXA XL in 2014, Manekshaw has been part of developing and implementing AXA XL’s SDI Underwriting strategies while managing a team of underwriters and maintaining underwriting responsibilities on key accounts in the US, Canada, and the UK.
Prior to joining AXA XL, he spent seven years as an attorney at a boutique firm in Dallas.
Sadler, meanwhile, joined AXA XL’s SDI team in February 2016, and was promoted to Underwriting Manager in 2018, after quickly developing relationships with key brokers and customers and tailoring subcontractor default risk management solutions.
Prior to joining AXA XL, he spent 13 years practicing law, including tenure with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, a multi-national law firm based in Los Angeles, and a small, energy-focused boutique law firm – West Allen, PC.
“Since joining our SDI team, Cyrus and Ian have both exceled, applying their legal backgrounds, critical thinking, and analytical skills to help grow our SDI book of business and meet our clients’ subcontractor default needs head-on,” said Jim Richert, AXA XL’s SDI Profit Center Leader.
“Given the depth of our team and AXA XL’s strong support for our industry leading SDI business, we were able to move quickly with their well-deserved promotions. Ian and Cyrus were already key contributors to our leadership team and both are well-prepared for this next level of responsibility.”
And lastly, in her new management role, Hanes will manage a team of SDI risk engineers providing consultation, training, and best practices to help contractors minimize subcontractor default risk.
Before joining AXA XL in 2012 as a construction risk engineer, she worked with Yates Construction’s North Texas Division in Operations and Sustainability Management.
Scott Merchant, Head of AXA XL’s Construction Risk Engineering team, commented: “Using her 25 years of industry experience in preconstruction, operations, and project management, Cheri has contributed tremendously to the development and build out of our core risk engineering services. She’s is well respected, highly recognized for her industry thought leadership, and very deserving of this well-earned promotion.”
