Emmanuel Clarke Appointed PartnerRe President
The Board of Directors of Bermuda-based PartnerRe Ltd. announced the appointment of Emmanuel Clarke as President of PartnerRe Ltd. effective September 8, 2015. Mr. Clarke will be responsible for leading and managing all of the Company’s operations.
David Zwiener, Interim President and CEO since January 26, 2015, will remain in the role of Interim CEO. Mr. Zwiener will dedicate his time to bringing EXOR’s acquisition of PartnerRe to a successful close, at which point he will step down.
“Both appointments have received the full support of EXOR,” the company said.
“Formerly CEO of PartnerRe Global and a member of the executive management team since 2010, Mr. Clarke, 45, has had an 18-year career at PartnerRe, during which time he was instrumental in building the Company’s Global reinsurance business.
Mr. Jean-Paul Montupet, Chairman of the PartnerRe Board, said, “The Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Emmanuel as President, in charge of all of PartnerRe’s operations. Emmanuel has stood out as an exceptional talent throughout his career at PartnerRe and I look forward to working with him.
“I would like to thank David Zwiener for agreeing to continue as Interim CEO during this important transition phase. I am also very pleased with the spirit of trust and cooperation that has developed between EXOR and the PartnerRe Board and management team.”
Mr. Clarke joined PartnerRe as an underwriter in 1997 with the acquisition of SAFR, and was appointed Head of Credit and Surety, Global in 2001, becoming Deputy Head of Specialty Lines, Global in 2002, Head of Property and Casualty, Global in 2006 and Head of Specialty Lines, Global in 2008. In his most recent role as CEO of PartnerRe Global, he initiated a restructuring of the Global organization to better align it with the needs of PartnerRe’s clients.
Mr. Clarke has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University Paris Dauphine, specializing in Finance and Controlling and an MBA in International Business from Baruch College of CUNY.
Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Clarke said, “I am honored to accept this position and to have the opportunity to lead PartnerRe’s operations, particularly at this important time in our history.
“I have a deep and ongoing respect for all that makes PartnerRe the company it is: our intelligent and dedicated people and our unique culture, as well as our clients, many of whom have been with the Company from the outset. These are some of the fundamentals of our strength as a company and I look forward to working with my executive management team to continue to provide exceptional value to our clients.”
Under Mr. Clarke’s leadership, PartnerRe’s executive management team will remain the same with the positions of Bill Babcock as Chief Financial Officer, Laurie Desmet as Chief Operations Officer and Tad Walker as CEO of North America unchanged.
Some additional changes will take place effective September 8, 2015:
Charles Goldie, has been appointed CEO of PartnerRe Global, heading up PartnerRe Global’s executive team.
Mr. Goldie steps into Mr. Clarke’s previous role to lead PartnerRe’s Global business units, except Catastrophe.
Formerly Deputy CEO of PartnerRe Global, Mr. Goldie has 25 years of experience both as an actuary and as a reinsurance underwriting manager. He joined PartnerRe in 2002 as head of the U.S. Specialty Lines portfolio and in 2009 was named Head of Risk Management and Reserving for PartnerRe Global. From 2010 he has been responsible for the management and direction of Global Specialty Lines underwriting. Prior to joining PartnerRe, Mr. Goldie worked for Gerling Global Reinsurance Corporation of America as Head of Casualty Underwriting and for Milliman as a consulting actuary.
Mr. Goldie has a BSc. in Economics from the State University of New York at Binghamton and is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society.
CEO of North America, Tad Walker, assumes executive responsibility for Catastrophe.
Mr. Walker will continue in his current role as CEO of North America with additional executive responsibility for the Catastrophe business unit. Mr. Walker brings to bear his previous experience as Head of Catastrophe, responsible for managing PartnerRe’s catastrophe book worldwide.
Marvin Pestcoe rejoins PartnerRe as Interim CEO of Life and Health.
A former member of PartnerRe’s executive management team, Mr. Pestcoe reprises his role as CEO of PartnerRe’s Life and Health business units on an interim basis. Since retiring from PartnerRe in April 2014, Mr. Pestcoe has continued to work with the Company in a consulting capacity.
In his former role at PartnerRe, Mr. Pestcoe was responsible for PartnerRe’s investments and held executive responsibility for the Life and Health operations following the acquisition of Presidio Reinsurance Group in December 2012.
All three positions report to Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke said, “I am pleased to have such a strong and committed executive management team in place. They are all seasoned reinsurance professionals and leaders, with the depth of experience to provide the stability and continuity we need to complete the January 1 renewals and to close the EXOR transaction. I would like to congratulate Charlie on his new role and on behalf of the organization, I extend a warm welcome to Marvin on his return to PartnerRe.”
