RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has announced a management reshuffle of its global underwriting business.

Kevin O'Donnell, senior vice-president of RenaissanceRe and president of the company's reinsurance operations, has been promoted to executive vice-president and global chief underwriting officer, with responsibility for RenRe's global reinsurance and insurance underwriting businesses, with immediate effective.

The company has also announced that John Nichols, who has served as executive vice-president of RenaissanceRe since February 2003 and most recently as president of RenaissanceRe Ventures Ltd., and William Ashley, president, CEO and chief underwriting officer of the company's insurance operations have both announced their intention to retire.

Within the reinsurance segment, Ross Curtis and Jon Paradine, both senior vice-presidents and having served with the company for more than 10 years, will be promoted to chief underwriting officer of European operations and chief underwriting officer of Renaissance Reinsurance Ltd., respectively. Within the individual risk segment, Travis Lewis, chief operating officer of RenRe Insurance, will now report to Mr. O'Donnell.

Mr. Nichols, who will retire on June 30, 2010, will hand over to Aditya Dutt, senior vice-president. As head of RenaissanceRe Ventures, Mr. Dutt will have ongoing responsibilities for joint ventures and venture capital and will also assume responsibility for RenRe Energy Advisers Ltd., which will continue to be led by Mark Tawney. Mr. Dutt will report to Jeffrey Kelly, executive vice-president and chief financial officer.

"With this reorganisation, we are assuring that the underwriting excellence that has been the foundation of RenaissanceRe's success since its inception continues to be applied consistently as we grow our global business," said Neill Currie, CEO of RenaissanceRe. "Kevin O'Donnell has been part of the fabric of RenRe for most of its 16-year history, demonstrating his talent and expertise in building and managing strong, disciplined underwriting organisations.

"Since assuming his most recent role as head of both property catastrophe reinsurance and specialty reinsurance, he has succeeded in building top-tier underwriting teams in both Bermuda and London. We are confident that the further integration of all of our underwriting businesses under Kevin will lead us to even higher levels of business performance and risk management excellence.

"Jay Nichols has contributed greatly to our growth and development as part of our executive team since our early days.

"Among other things, he has been a force behind the establishment of our Ventures business, which is well-positioned to continue to create superior solutions for our clients and partners and meaningfully contribute to our performance under the first-rate team that Jay has assembled. Jay has been a valued member of our team and we celebrate his creativity and accomplishments as an innovative pioneer in our industry. We will miss him personally and professionally."

Mr. Nichols said: "I am proud of everything that we have created in Ventures and am confident in Aditya's abilities to manage this important component of our business."

Mr. Currie added: "Since joining the company in 2001, Bill Ashley has played a critical role in establishing and building our individual risk operations, including the acquisition and integration of Agro National, our integrated crop insurance platform. We thank Bill for his contributions and wish him well in his retirement.

"The promotions we are making today underscore the considerable depth and quality of talent at RenaissanceRe. I am excited about the future of our company."