Brian Dowd is to be the new chairman of PartnerRe Ltd, he takes over from John Elkann, who has been in the position for two years.

Mr Elkann is chairman and chief executive officer of Exor, the Italian investment firm that acquired PartnerRe in 2016. He will remain on the PartnerRe board.

“Over the past two years, under Emmanuel Clarke’s leadership, our company has performed strongly notwithstanding challenging market conditions,” said Mr Elkann.

“Our new chairman, Brian Dowd, brings with him deep, relevant experience to a further strengthened Board and leadership team, moves which confirm our commitment as Exor to build an even more successful PartnerRe.”

Mr Dowd takes on the chairmanship effective from Saturday. The Bermudian-based company has also announced further changes.

Nikhil Srinivasan will step down from the board in order to assume the role of chief investment officer. He will report to president and CEO Mr Clarke, and will join the company’s executive leadership team.

Mr Clarke said: “As a director since August 2016, Nikhil has been a great contributor to our company’s progress, and has provided valuable insight for our investments. I am confident that his extensive career experience in investments will contribute further to the success of our investment operation.”

Andrea Casarotti, who was the chief investment officer, will move to a new position as head of corporate planning.

Meanwhile, Mary Ann Brown will join the board as an independent director. She retired from her executive management role at Pacific Life Insurance Company last year, where she most recently was chairwoman of Pacific Life Re. She has previously held multiple executive roles at New York Life, MetLife and Swiss Re.

With these changes the PartnerRe Ltd board will comprise six directors, of which four are independent directors.

The new appointments of Mr Srinivasan and Mr Casarotti are subject to customary governmental approvals.