Conduit Reinsurance Ltd, the Bermudian start-up whose parent company raised about $1.1 billion in an initial public offering of shares on the London Stock Exchange, has announced seven senior staff hires.

The new reinsurer has lured the new recruits from rivals including Axa XL, Qatar Re, Sirius Group and American International Group.

Chris Board has been named Conduit Re’s head of international property and short-tail specialty. Mr Board has an 18-year track record in international property and specialty reinsurance underwriting.

He started his career at MS Amlin, originally underwriting international property and subsequently global specialty. After 15 years at MS Amlin, he joined Apollo Syndicate as Head of International Treaty where he helped to build their global portfolio.

Erik Soria is Conduit’s head of US casualty. He started his career as a casualty broker originally at Aon Benfield and latterly as a senior vice-president of Willis Re's casualty treaty division.

In 2012, Mr Soria became senior casualty treaty underwriter for QBE North America, where he also spent a year underwriting for QBE's flagship Lloyd's syndicate (Syndicate 566). He was ultimately appointed to lead QBE's new Bermuda branch, setting up and establishing the business.

Mr Soria's most recent role was as senior vice-president of US treaty casualty at Sirius. Erik was responsible for the build out of the account from the outset.

Greg Roberts, Conduit’s head of property, has 20 years’ underwriting experience, including 17 years at MS Amlin where he became head of North American property treaty.

Mr Roberts held a key role in the establishment of Amlin Bermuda in 2006. In 2018, he joined AmTrust to establish and build its new reinsurance division as head of AmTrust Re, including the buildout and hiring of the team

Marc Bearman is head of specialty – marine and energy. He has had a career of more than 20 years in global specialty reinsurance, with a particular specialisation in marine and energy. He started his career as a reinsurance broker, originally for Aon Re before joining Guy Carpenter and then JLT Re.

Mr Bearman moved to underwriting in 2012, joining XL Re as the global head of marine and energy. Latterly he was the senior specialty underwriter for Axa XL in Bermuda.

Andrew Smith is Conduit’s chief risk officer. A qualified accountant and an experienced risk management professional, he has had a 20-year career in the insurance and reinsurance industry specialising in risk management and corporate governance.

He most recently worked as chief risk officer for Qatar Re, where he was responsible for establishing and managing the group's risk management function.

Previously, he held leadership roles with PwC in London and Bermuda and EY in Bermuda, where he was focused on risk, capital management and governance.

Keith Griffin, is Conduit’s chief actuary. He has over 20 years' experience working as an actuary in the property and casualty industry, particularly in the reinsurance sector.

Mr Griffin was most recently the chief actuary at Peak Capital and was part of the senior management team there. Prior to this, he was the chief actuary for Ariel Re, based in Bermuda. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

Bianca Harris is Conduit’s head of human resources. She has had a 20-year career in all aspects of the HR function in Bermuda and the US.

Prior to joining Conduit Re, she spent 14 years with AIG in a variety of HR management roles including recruitment, training and development and administration.

Ms Harris started her career with the US Navy where she spent six years specialising in HR and recruitment. She holds an MBA in human resources management, an MED in instructional technology and design and is a PACE-accredited instructor at the Bermuda College.

Trevor Carvey, Conduit’s chief executive officer and chief underwriting officer, said: "We are delighted to welcome our new colleagues to the business. We are now well into the 1/1 renewal season and are underwriting business on the lines we have been targeting.

“Market conditions continued to strengthen in the run-up to completion of our IPO and we are very pleased with the quality and terms of what we are writing."

Neil Eckert, executive chairman, said: "Conduit Re is off to a strong start, benefitting from the year of preparation we put into the plan prior to launch. We are pleased to recruit a number of high calibre individuals who fit with the team ethos we set out at IPO. We will issue a formal trading update to shareholders on January 19, 2021."

Conduit Re holds a Class 4 licence from the Bermuda Monetary Authority and has been assigned a financial strength rating of A-by AM Best.