FG Financial Group, Inc., a reinsurance and investment management holding company focused on collateralized and loss capped reinsurance, has announced the appointment of Hassan R. Baqar as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Baqar will succeed John S. Hill, who has decided to retire after serving as CFO at FG Financial since its founding in 2012.
He joins FG Financial with over 20 years of experience in financial services with considerable experience in the reinsurance and special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) industries.
Baqar previously served as the founder and managing member of Sequoia Financial LLC, a financial services and advisory firm, before which he was CFO at Bermuda-based reinsurer Insurance Income Strategies Ltd.
Additionally, he has been a director of GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. since 2019, was CFO of GreenFirst from 2016 to 2020, and has served as a director of Fundamental Global Reinsurance Ltd. since June 2020.
He was also recently CFO of FG New America Acquisition Corp., a SPAC that concluded a successful business combination with OppFi, Inc in July 2021, and is currently serving as CFO of SPAC Aldel Financial Inc.
“We are extremely excited to announce Hassan Baqar as our new Chief Financial Officer,” said FG Financial CEO Larry Swets. “Hassan brings a wealth of valuable knowledge to this role including extensive reinsurance and SPAC experience. I have worked with Hassan directly for many years and look forward to FG Financial benefiting from his broad experience and business acumen.”
“I would like to congratulate John Hill and thank him for his numerous contributions to FG Financial Group during his tenure as Chief Financial Officer,” Swets added. “John was with us at our founding and during his tenure he has played an important role in a number of the company’s strategic and financial business initiatives. We wish him a happy and well-deserved retirement.”
Concurrently, FG Financial announced that Brian Bottjer has been appointed Chief Accounting Officer, having previously served as a Senior Vice President at the company since 2014.
From 2006 to 2014, Bottjer was controller at Biovest International, having previously served as Assistant Controller at Stewart Title, and having began his career as Account Supervisor at Raymond James Financial from 2000 to 2005.
Swets continued: “We are also pleased to appoint Brian Bottjer to the position of Chief Accounting Officer. Brian has been an integral member of the team since 2014, has deep knowledge of our business and finances and will play an important role at the company as we grow.”
