Property and casualty insurer Global Indemnity Group (GBLI) has named Joseph W. Brown as its new CEO after announcing that David S. Charlton, former CEO, and Reiner R. Mauer, former COO, are no longer officers or directors of GBLI, including its subsidiaries.
Brown has close to five decades of insurance industry experience, with time spent as a director, chairman, and chief executive officer of MBIA, chairman of the board of Safeco, chairman of the board of Talegen Holdings, chairman of Noblr, and president and chief executive officer of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company.
He has served as a GBLI director since December 2015 and will remain on GBLI’s board of directors.
Saul Fox, GBLI’s chairman, and whose investment firm Fox Paine & Company owns approximately 40% of GBLI’s shares, commented, “I wish to thank David Charlton and Reiner Mauer for their significant contributions to GBLI during their 18-month and 16-month respective tenures with GBLI.
“However, GBLI’s board of directors believes that the company would be best served at this time by Jay Brown as its Chief Executive Officer, given Jay’s vast experience as a chief executive and as a board chairman of several prominent and highly esteemed property & casualty insurance companies, where Jay orchestrated enterprise transformative results.
“Jay’s decades of insurance company senior leadership expertise will be of tremendous value to GBLI as it transitions to an information technology and data-driven casualty lines-focused provider.”
Brown added, “It has been a terrific experience as a director working with the GBLI board and management team over the past 5 years developing the long-term strategy for our company. I look forward to shifting to the senior executive role at the company leading the effort to make that vision a reality.”
GBLI also announced that Jason B. Hurwitz has rejoined GBLI’s board of directors.
He had previously served on GBLI’s board from September 2017 to January 2022, and is a partner with Osier Capital LLC, an investment firm focused on insurance and other long-term investments.
GBLI state that as a principal and advisor during his career, Hurwitz completed 28 corporate acquisitions or divestitures totalling over $5 billion, and served on the boards of directors of eight of these companies, he will also join GBLI’s Audit Committee.
Additionally, the firm announced that it will commence a stock repurchase program beginning in the fourth quarter of 2022. Repurchases of up to $32m of GBLI’s currently outstanding A Common Shares have been authorised by GBLI’s board of directors.
The authorisation to repurchase will expire on December 31, 2027, says GBLI, adding that the timing and actual number of shares repurchased, if any, will depend on a variety of factors, including price, general business and market conditions, and alternative investment opportunities.
