Vesttoo taps Stonybrook VP to lead innovation in alternative reinsurance

Insurtech  Vesttoo, a marketplace for life and P&C insurance-based risk transfer and investments, has hired a reinsurance industry veteran to lead its catastrophe and industry loss warranty (ILW) transactions.

Daniel Butzbaugh, former Stonybrook Capital executive, has joined the firm as vice president of catastrophe (CAT) markets.

Butzbaugh has over 20 years' experience in the reinsurance and insurance-linked investment sector, most recently as vice president and head of the ILW desk at Stonybrook. Prior to that, he worked in reinsurance, insurance-linked investment and risk management roles at various firms including New Paradigm Underwriters and at Willis Re where he launched his career on the capital risk team as a pioneer in the weather derivatives industry.

In his new role, Butzbaugh will lead Vesttoo's CAT and ILW transactions from the company's New York office. He will help create aggregated books of transactions with predefined underwriting criteria that leverage diversified types of risk, geographical locations and financial structures to create an instrument which is inherently diversified.

Vesttoo uses proprietary artificial intelligence technology to reduce the volatility and risk of such aggregated books of business, creating risk-remote, uncorrelated and diversified investment opportunities for institutional investors in the CAT market as well.

Butzbaugh's appointment follows that of Robert Schumaker as Vesttoo's VP of capital markets, to lead the company's insurance-linked investment program (ILP). The programme offers asset managers and pension schemes the opportunity to earn long-term, sustainable alpha by pledging securities to support an aggregated book of short and mid-term Life and P&C alternative risk transfer transactions.

Yaniv Bertele (pictured), chief executive officer and founder of Vesttoo, said: "We are delighted that Dan has agreed to join Vesttoo at a time of tremendous growth for the business. Dan is yet another market veteran to join Vesttoo and brings strong experience in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance sectors. We are looking forward to building innovative investment structures with Dan in the CAT sector, in expansion to our activities in the Life and P&C domains."

Butzbaugh commented: "I am excited to join Vesttoo to help strengthen its growing reputation for excellence and innovation in alternative reinsurance. I look forward to helping Vesttoo develop innovative approaches to insurance investments to help bridge the immense funding gap in the market."

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.