John ‘Jay’ Nichols, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited’s reinsurance division, AXIS Re, has stepped down from his position, and Jan Ekberg has been named as interim Head of Reinsurance.
Nichols will remain with the company in a transitional role until the end of March, 2017.
“On behalf of AXIS, we would like to thank Jay for all he has done for our company. When Jay joined AXIS, we introduced a plan to strengthen our reinsurance business and broaden our risk-funding sources through high-quality partnerships.
“Over the past five years we have made significant progress and AXIS Re is a global reinsurance leader, well-positioned against the backdrop of a structural shift in the reinsurance industry. We have also established AXIS as a strategic partner to respected third party capital providers. With this solid foundation in place, Jay has decided that he would like to leave to take on new challenges. We are deeply appreciative of Jay’s leadership and wish him the absolute best,” said AXIS Capital President and CEO, Albert Benchimol.
Discussing his time at AXIS, Nichols said; “When I joined AXIS Re, we set a plan to profitably grow the reinsurance business, improve our analytical capabilities and expand into strategic capital partnerships to match the right risk with the right capital. I am grateful for what we have accomplished in all areas of the reinsurance business and I have been honored to lead such a talented and committed group for the past five years.
“I’ve very deeply enjoyed working with my team, my colleagues across AXIS, and being a part of the Company’s leadership. While there is still more work to be done, now is a good time for a transition and I leave with the confidence that AXIS Re is well-positioned to succeed and in very capable hands.”
The insurer and reinsurer has announced that current President and Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO) of AXIS Re Europe, Jan Ekberg, has been appointed as interim CEO of AXIS Re, and will report to Group President and CEO, Benchimol.
Ekberg has more than 40 years of insurance and reinsurance industry experience, and joined AXIS in 2004 as part of AXIS Re Europe. Prior to AXIS Ekberg has held positions at Nordisk Re, Employers Re, and GE Frankona.
