Zurich shakes-up North America leadership, taps new head of US national accounts

Zurich Insurance Group has shuffled the leadership of its North American operations as it prepares for its top national accounts officer to leave after 15 years.

Paul Lavelle (pictured left) has been appointed to lead Zurich North America's US national accounts business as Paul Horgan (pictured center) moves into an advisory role before leaving the insurer in a year. Lavelle will be replaced as chief claims officer of Zurich North America by Keith Daly (pictured right), who has been president of personal lines for Farmers Insurance since 2018.

Horgan's retirement comes after 30 years in the insurance industry, which includes 15 years of service to Zurich. He will stay on through the next year to serve as senior advisor to Zurich North America CEO Kristof Terryn.

In his new role, Lavelle will be responsible for the direction, management and performance of all large commercial and specialties business in the US. He will report to CEO Terryn with dual reporting to Sierra Signorelli, CEO of commercial insurance for Zurich Insurance Group.

Lavelle more than 30 years of insurance experience and has held underwriting and claims senior leadership and management roles at Allstate, American International Group (AIG) and National Union Underwriting. He joined Zurich in September 2018 from Allied World Assurance Company, where he served as senior vice president, North America claims operations, and prior to that as president and founder of LVL Claims Services.

Daly will be responsible for delivering transactional excellence in claims handling, and building relationships with Zurich customers to help achieve the best claims outcomes.

Prior to his current role at Farmers Insurance, he served as its chief claims officer. He has led product development, strategy and underwriting efforts for the Farmers Personal Lines, Bristol West and Foremost lines of business. His insurance career began in 1993 as a claims representative trainee at Progressive Insurance.

Commenting on the key changes, Terryn said its US national accounts business "could not be in better hands" under Lavelle's leadership.

"Paul's perspectives on the business and his unwavering commitment to our customers has meant a great deal to me personally and played a major role in bringing Zurich to its current leadership position," he said. "I am especially pleased that Paul's [Horgan] retirement will be preceded by his role as a senior advisor."

"Keith is the right person for the right job," Terryn added. "Keith began his insurance career in claims and his decades of experience will serve our Claims organization well."

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