QBE North America Announces New Heads of Transactional Liability and Financial Institutions Businesses ― Toria Lessman and Stacey Meade

NEW YORK, Oct. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- QBE North America (QBE), an integrated specialist insurer, today announced it has appointed Toria Lessman as Senior Vice President, Head of Transactional Liability and Stacey Meade, Senior Vice President, Head of Financial Institutions; both promotions are effective immediately.

ANNOUNCING TORIA LESSMAN

Lessman will lead QBE's Transactional Liability business with a focus on ensuring that customers have access to the customized policies, service excellence and the specialized expertise they need to safeguard their businesses when participating in M&A transactions.

"Toria is recognized nationally as a leading expert in the Transactional Liability underwriting, producer and legal communities that support the M&A marketplace. Navigating the complexity and unique risks of our policyholders and producers in the rapidly evolving M&A market requires applied expertise and trusted partnership," said Jeff Grange, President, Specialty and Commercial Insurance, QBE North America. "At QBE, we are committed to the continuous career development of our employees and I am absolutely thrilled to promote Toria into a well-deserved, high-impact leadership role. Toria's understanding of the business environment and the needs of our customers will make her an outstanding leader of our Transactional Liability business going forward."

An attorney by trade, Lessman has more than a decade of insurance industry experience. Lessman joined QBE in 2011, where she led QBE's policy regulatory and compliance practice. In 2014, she was promoted and primarily focused on new product development across QBE North America's market-leading Transactional Liability Practice. Prior to joining QBE, Lessman worked as a regulatory and compliance attorney with the law firm Tressler LLP.

"As a growing number of corporate investors and private equity firms employ transactional risk insurance, it was important for us to appoint a strong leader for this business with superior expertise and experience," said John Burkhart, Head of Professional Lines and Industry Verticals. "I look forward to working with Toria to ensure that we continue providing solutions designed to help manage a variety of transactional liability exposures."

ANNOUNCING STACEY MEADE

In her new role as the profit center leader, Meade will oversee QBE's financial institutions underwriting strategy and results for all specialty and property and casualty products for financial institution customers with QBE's limited and preferred producer partners in the retail and wholesale distribution channels. 

"QBE is committed to delivering an experience of excellence for our customers and for our employees, and advancing talented individuals into leadership roles reflects our commitment to continuous career development," said Grange. "Stacey is uniquely qualified as both an underwriter and leader and I am delighted that she will lead our efforts in the financial institutions sector."

Meade most recently served as Vice President, Underwriting Leader, Financial Institutions at QBE. She has more than 20 years of experience in underwriting property and casualty, management and professional lines with a strong focus in financial institutions. Prior to joining QBE in 2013, she spent 17 years at Chubb, where she held a variety of leadership roles, including responsibility for the management of the Financial Institutions team in the Midwest, as well as banking, asset management and insurance company sectors.

"Stacey has a proven track record of success underwriting the full spectrum of both specialty and property and casualty lines," said Burkhart. "Stacey's outstanding relationships with Financial Institutions customers and producers on a national basis makes her ideally suited for this leadership role to develop tailored solutions, new products and enhanced services for the highly specialized risk management needs for the financial services industry."

About Transactional Liability Insurance

As QBE continues to consider opportunities to shape the organization in ways to enable further delivery of its value proposition as an Integrated Specialist Insurer—underpinned by Applied Expertise, Experience of Excellence and Global Strength—the Transactional Liability business will continue to be an area of focus.

QBE offers highly customized insurance solutions to safeguard M&A transactions by addressing indemnification issues that could come up during negotiations and due diligence that could prevent the deal from closing.

By purchasing representation and warranties insurance or tax indemnity insurance buyers can increase the attractiveness of their bid, sellers can reduce indemnity obligations and both parties can close the deal with confidence and ease. QBE's products include:

• Representations and warranties insurance. Coverage provides protection from financial losses resulting from wrongful acts or inaccuracies in the representations and warranties made about a company or business.
• Tax indemnity insurance. Policy helps eliminate or reduce financial loss arising from a tax authority's successful challenge of tax treatment during a transaction.

About Financial Institutions Insurance

As QBE continues to consider opportunities to enable advance delivery of its value proposition as an Integrated Specialist Insurer, the financial services industry is an area of strong focus.

Every industry has its own exposures. Insurance for these businesses should offer both innovative management liability and property and casualty products delivered in an integrated way. In doing so, QBE is servicing this industry differently.

QBE is dedicated to the Financial Institutions industry ― including asset management firms, banks and insurance companies with a focus on offering proprietary products, customizable solutions, superior technical and underwriting acumen and deep understanding of the Financial Institutions industry.

About QBE Specialty and Commercial Insurance

QBE underwrites a variety of Specialty risks and provides exemplary coverage and services to support the specialized needs of customers across a wide variety of segments and industry sectors. These include Accident & Health, Aviation, Public Company, Private Company, Commercial Errors & Omissions, Financial Institutions, Healthcare, Media & Entertainment, Trade Credit, Transactional Liability, Surety and Inland Marine risk, as well as Commercial products including Multinational and Excess & Surplus, for appointed retail and wholesale producers.

About QBE North America

QBE North America, an integrated specialist insurer, is part of QBE Insurance Group Limited, one of the largest insurers and reinsurers worldwide. QBE NA reported Gross Written Premiums in 2017 of $4.6 billion. QBE Insurance Group's 2017 results can be found at www.qbe.com. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, QBE operates out of 31 countries around the globe, with a presence in every key insurance market. The North America division, headquartered in New York, conducts business through its property and casualty insurance subsidiaries. The actual terms and coverage for all lines of business are subject to the language of the policies as issued. QBE insurance companies are rated "A" (Excellent) by A.M. Best and "A+" by Standard & Poor's. Additional information can be found at www.qbe.com/us, or follow QBE North America on Twitter.

SOURCE QBE North America

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