AXIS beefs up US cyber and tech unit with triple hire

AXIS Insurance, the specialty insurance business segment of AXIS Capital Holdings, has strengthened its US cyber and technology unit with the hiring of three lead underwriters.

Ashley Sales and Jonah Papesh join AXIS as underwriting managers responsible for underwriting profitability, portfolio management and execution of strategy for the US Southeast and West Coast regions, respectively. Sales will be based in Georgia, and Papesh in San Francisco.

As underwriting manager based in New York, Eric Allen will work across all AXIS Insurance US cyber and technology products, with a focus on distribution relationships and the execution of underwriting strategy.

Prior to AXIS, Sales was an assistant regional underwriting manager for cyber and technology at AIG, dedicated to the Southeast region. At AIG she previously held senior underwriter and underwriter positions, working across professional and cyber liability.

Papesh joins AXIS from AXA XL, where he was a cyber and technology senior underwriter. Prior to that, he was a specialty E&O, security and privacy underwriter at Zurich North America.

Allen comes from Chubb where he was most recently vice president and team lead for cyber and technology underwriting. Previously, he focused on cyber, technology and errors and omissions as an underwriting specialist at Liberty International Underwriters.

AXIS Insurance also announced today the addition of three senior underwriters to its US cyber and technology team. Nina Pappas, Matthew Jeske and Melissa Steinmetz have joined AXIS as senior underwriters. Pappas and Jeske will be based in Chicago, and Steinmetz will be based in Los Angeles.

Eric Seyfried, head of cyber US open market for AXIS Insurance, said: “We continue to position our U.S. cyber and technology business for strategic growth that is built around underwriting excellence and a deep understanding of our clients’ needs. The underwriting experience and leadership of Ashley, Jonah and Eric, combined with their years of experience in the U.S. cyber market, will be instrumental in helping our brokers and clients navigate the evolving cyber threat landscape.”