After weeks of rumour and speculation, Validus Re has confirmed that Conan Ward has resigned as the company’s CEO and will leave the company altogether on February 1 of next year.The Bermuda reinsurer confirmed yesterday morning that Mr Ward has relinquished his position as head of Validus’s Bermuda operations and that the company’s chief underwriting officer, Kean Driscoll, will take over as CEO.According to an 8-K filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Mr Ward will continue to serve as an adviser to Validus Re’s board of directors into early 2013.During that time, the filing states, Mr Ward will receive a base salary of $618,000, benefits (including medical and life insurance and paid vacation) and reimbursement of some expenses. Mr Ward will also be entitled to receive an annual bonus equal to 150 percent of his base salary (up to $927,000) for 2012 and 2013.The restricted stock he was granted will also vest as scheduled. As of the company’s last proxy statement, filed on March 21, Mr Ward had 173,242 unvested restricted shares. The group’s shares closed Monday night at $31.57. He also holds 246,614 options with an exercise price of $17.50.In addition, the filing states that if the company were to terminate him prior to February 1, 2013, Mr Ward will receive, as severance, a lump-sum payment equal to the sum of his base salary plus the bonus payments, medical and life insurance for a specified period and relocation expenses.In return, Mr Ward has agree that for the six months after the end of the employment period or January 15, 2013, whichever is later, he will not compete with the company or solicit any of its clients. Mr Ward has also agreed not to solicit any Validus employees for a 12-month period.Mr Ward officially joined Validus in January 2006 as executive vice-president and CUO, having been part of the reinsurer’s founding management team when it was launched in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.Although the exact circumstances of his departure are unknown, Mr Ward is understood to have been keen to move from Bermuda back to the US for some time.Mr Driscoll, who replaced Mr Ward, will be replaced by Jeff Clements, who was previously head of US property and specialty at the Bermudian reinsurer.Mr Clements’ job, meanwhile, has been split between marine chief Paul Manders who will take on the additional role of head of specialty underwriting and the senior vice-president of US property underwriting Chris Silvester, who will now be head of US property underwriting.“We congratulate Kean Driscoll and his colleagues at Validus Re on their new roles,” said Ed Noonan, chairman and CEO of Validus Holdings.“Kean, Jeff and Paul were part of the original underwriting team at the time we formed Validus in 2005 and were instrumental in merging cutting edge analytic expertise with underwriting excellence in building our reinsurance business.“Chris joined us soon afterwards in 2006 and has been instrumental in shaping our North American portfolio and market position. We are fortunate to have such a deep bench of talented executives.”The promotions of Mr Driscoll, Mr Clements and Mr Manders are subject to approval by the Bermuda Department of Immigration.