BSHI grows in Australia, France and Spain with key appointments

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) is growing its business with key appointments in Australia, Spain and France.

Jonathan Griffiths has been named head of surety, Australia, and will lead BHSI’s surety efforts throughout the country, focused on providing contract surety solutions for large and mid-sized contractors.

Griffiths comes to BHSI with more than a decade of surety underwriting experience at Liberty Specialty Markets, where he was most recently head of surety, Asia-Pacific, based in Sydney.

“We are pleased to expand our surety footprint and our team into Australia. With his extensive experience, Jonathan is exceptionally qualified to bring to market surety solutions with BHSI’s agility, underwriting expertise and financial strength,” said Mark Lingafelter, president, Australasia, BHSI.

BHSI is now underwriting casualty and construction insurance in France. The efforts are led by newly-appointed head of construction, Olivier Antiphon and head of casualty, Anne-Sophie Bonifay. For the past 12 years Antiphon was construction & engineering underwriting manager at XL Insurance Company SE in Paris, while Bonifay joins BHSI with 25 years of experience spanning both middle market and large account casualty underwriting. She was most recently casualty underwriting manager, middle market, at AXA XL in Paris.

BHSI’s capabilities in Spain are growing along with the leadership team. Key leadership roles have been filled for head of property, casualty, technical lines and claims.

Diego Espinosa has been appointed head of property, with Juan Madrid as head of casualty and Tomás Blas as head of technical lines.

Espinosa comes to BHSI with more than a decade of industry experience at RSA Spain. Madrid has more than 35 years of industry experience, most recently as liabilities manager at Chubb Iberia, and Blas has nearly 15 years of industry experience, most recently as regional head of engineering lines, Mediterranean region at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS).

“We are pleased to build out our leadership team and capabilities in Spain with the addition of these highly experienced professionals to lead our entry into property, casualty and technical lines,” said Ignacio Almazan, country manager, Spain, BHSI.

Javier Villalba joins BHSI’s team in Spain as head of claims. He was most recently director for expert claims (Spain) and claims customer relationship manager at Zurich in Spain. Prior to that he spent 16 years in claims at AIG, beginning as a claims adjuster and rising to the position of AIG South Europe claims & operations officer.

“We are thrilled to have Javier, with his extensive industry experience, bringing BHSI’s commitment to claims excellence to customers in Spain and throughout Europe. Claims is our product - and Javier is exceptionally equipped to bring this product to the marketplace, the BHSI way,” said Ignacio Almazan, country manager, Spain, BHSI.

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