PartnerRe Ltd yesterday announced that Brian Secrett has been appointed head of its catastrophe business unit.Mr Secrett, who is currently chief underwriting officer and deputy head, catastrophe, will be responsible for PartnerRe’s worldwide catastrophe reinsurance business and will report to Emmanuel Clarke, CEO PartnerRe Global.He succeeds Ted Dziurman, who has been appointed to the new position of general manager and executive director of Partner Reinsurance Europe Ltd, the group’s Dublin-based European reinsurance company.Mr Secrett has more than 20 years of reinsurance underwriting and market experience. He joined PartnerRe as an underwriter in 1994, and was appointed head of Bermuda Catastrophe Underwriting team in 2002 and chief underwriting officer Catastrophe in 2008.Concurrent with Mr Secrett’s appointment, Erik Ruttener, currently head of Catastrophe Research, will be appointed chief underwriting officer and deputy head of Catastrophe, reporting to Mr Secrett.Dr Ruttener joined PartnerRe in 2008 as head of Catastrophe Research. Dr Ruttener is currently chairman of the board of PERILS AG, a European insurance industry initiative providing natural catastrophe exposure and claims data.Emmanuel Clarke, CEO of PartnerRe Global, said: “Brian’s strong reinsurance experience and extensive knowledge of the catastrophe reinsurance market will be essential in managing our catastrophe business unit. Erik brings deep analytical skills, strong experience and knowledge in both catastrophe research and modelling.”