Kettle, the Bermudian-based insurance managing general agent start-up powered by artificial intelligence, has announced the hiring of Sarah Meyerhoff-Kennedy as VP of Insurance Products and Milena Mikin as VP of Commercial Insurance.

Mrs Meyerhoff-Kennedy joins from Hanover Insurance, and Mrs Mikin joins from Distinguished Programs.

Kettle cofounder and chief executive Andrew Engler said: “We are incredibly excited about Sarah and Milena joining our leadership team.

“They each bring significant experience writing property insurance. Their deep expertise in underwriting across commercial, E&S and other property markets levels up Kettle’s overall capabilities in the insurance sector.”

The company said Mrs Meyerhoff-Kennedy has more than 15 years of experience in the industry, most recently holding the position of VP, head of E&S Property at Hanover Insurance.

Ms Meyerhoff-Kennedy said: “I’m very excited to be joining Kettle at this time with the changes in the property markets in wildfire and hurricane-prone areas of the country. Kettle is extremely well positioned to be able to help support property owners who have been struggling to get coverage.”

The company said Mrs Mikin has more than 20 years of experience in various roles across the industry. Prior to joining Kettle, she was the VP of product development at Distinguished Programs.

Mrs Mikin said: “Climate change has shaken up the property insurance markets. The deeply talented team at Kettle have created technology to give them a clear edge in this new world, and built innovative insurance products that will help solve customers’ needs.”

Chief underwriting officer Brian Espie said: “We are very excited to have Sarah and Milena join the team. Their stellar underwriting track record and ability to grow the business at their previous companies is world class.”

Kettle said it aims to better price and understand risk using machine learning, and in doing so bring new products and more highly-defined views of risk to the insurance and reinsurance industries.

Its first products focus on wildfire coverage for the continental US spanning reinsurance, commercial insurance, and primary homeowner coverage, and Kettle has started to pilot programmes in Florida wind.