Beach taps Willis Re EVP for US property treaty & specialty build out

Re/insurance broking and advisory firm Beach & Associates has hired a senior executive from Willis Re to develop its US property treaty and specialty programmes business. Warren Berkstresser joins as senior vice president of its US reinsurance division, Beach Re. He will also launch and run Beach’s new office in Seattle and...

...sit on the North America office head’s executive team.

Berkstresser began his career in the reinsurance industry in 2005 within Guy Carpenter's Instrat Global Analytics. He spent four years within the integrated analytics unit, helping develop risk transfer solutions supported by predictive, financial and catastrophe modeling analyses. In 2010, Berkstresser joined Willis Re - most recently acting as an executive vice president of production and broking, specialising in the property catastrophe market. There he managed a team responsible for analysis, structuring, marketing and negotiating advanced risk transfer strategies consisting of traditional reinsurance, capital market solutions, and accretive business partnerships.

Berkstresser will join Beach at the end of October and will report to Simon Hedley, CEO of Beach North America.

Hedley said: “I am delighted Warren will be joining Beach. The role of the treaty broker is constantly evolving – brokers need to combine the sales aspect and understanding of their marketplace, with a deep, technical knowledge. Warren perfectly embodies this 21st century approach; he has extensive analytical skills and an outstanding insight of the P&C market which complements Beach’s client focused and analytical approach to the risk transfer process. He is well respected in the market and a fantastic hire for us. I look forward to working with him to further build our property business and presence on the west coast.”

Jason Howard, CEO of Beach Group, added: “Acrisure has a significant retail property & casualty presence on the North American west coast so we are happy to be complementing this with our reinsurance capabilities. He will be vital in our US expansion plans and working with our parent Acrisure to identify mutually beneficial opportunities to build upon the Beach franchise.”