A former American football star, who won four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers, has been appointed to the board of Bermudian life reinsurer Athene Holding Ltd.

Lynn Swann, also well known for having worked for US television network ABC for 30 years as a host, reporter and National Football League analyst becomes an independent director, effective immediately.

Mr Swann, a wide receiver, played nine seasons with the Steelers, having been drafted in the first round of the 1974 NFL draft. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.

Mr Swann went on to serve as the athletic director of the University of Southern California from 2016 to 2019, where he was responsible for overall administration of 21 Division I athletic programmes.

He is also president of Swann, Inc, a marketing and consulting firm he founded in 1976.

Athene’s board is now comprised of 16 members, including nine independent members.

Mr Swann serves on the boards of directors of Evoqua Water Technologies and American Homes 4 Rent and has previously served on a number of publicly-traded, privately-held, and non-profit entity boards.

“We are pleased to welcome Lynn to our board of directors,” said Jim Belardi, chief executive officer of Athene. “He brings considerable expertise in business, marketing and community involvement in addition to public company board experience.”