XL Group Aligns Property Underwriting and Engineering Capabilities to Offer Greater Loss Prevention Flexibility; Appoints Six Regional Engineering Leaders

NEW YORK and LONDON, Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- XL Group plc's ("XL") (NYSE: XL) Insurance segment has combined its Property Underwriting  and XL Global Asset Protection Services (XL GAPS) engineers to form one unified team of nearly 200 risk engineers worldwide.  To efficiently direct its combined risk engineering resources as XL underwriters and clients need them – either as part of a fully integrated risk management program or to provide unbundled loss prevention services -- XL Group also announced the appointment of six new Regional Engineering Leaders.  

According to Joseph Tocco, Executive Vice President of XL's North America Property and head of XL GAPS, "With this new alignment we have pooled our risk engineering talent together to allow easy deployment of those resources and greater flexibility to fit the business needs of our insureds, our XL GAPS clients, and our underwriters. It's all part of our goal to provide our customers with top-notch service through the full length of the value chain -- from loss prevention servicing, through fronting and risk transfer, all backed up by outstanding claims services."

XL's new Regional Engineering Leaders include:

• Marc Musikoff for North America/Eastern: Based in New York, Mr. Musikoff has 25 years of risk engineering experience gathered from his experiences at Factory Mutual Engineering Association, Alexander and Alexander, Protection Mutual Insurance Company, TVA Fire & Life Safety and XL GAPS, which he joined in 2001.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University's College of Engineering.  

• James Lemanski for North America/Central: Mr. Lemanski will remain based in Chicago and will apply his 20 years of large account property loss prevention experience to direct risk engineering resources throughout the Central US.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Illinois, Chicago.  

• Anthony Forester for North America/Western: Mr. Forester's loss prevention and risk management experience was honed at GE Insurance Solutions and XL GAPS.  He received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Fire Protection Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.  To take on his new position, he is relocating from Chicago to Los Angeles.

• Huw Chandler for Northern Europe/Australia Pacific: Based in London, Mr. Chandler has more than 30 years of experience as a fire protection engineer,  industry safety consultant, construction and property account consultant including positions with Allianz, Winterthur International and XL, where he served as account consultant before taking on this new regional engineering leader role.

• Jan Van Caesbroeck for Western Europe: Mr. Van Caesbroeck has considerable experience providing loss prevention services to Fortune 500 companies, with particular expertise in the Auto, Diversified Chemical and Steel industries. He earned his chemical engineering degree and a Masters in Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering from the University in Brussels.

• Martin Vinkenfluegel for Central and Eastern Europe: Mr. Vinkenfluegel joined GAPS as a risk engineer in 1987.  In 2003, he moved to XL to build and manage its Property field engineering organization in Europe and Asia Pacific.  He will retain his business development responsibilities in addition to taking on this new risk leader role.  He holds an Engineering degree from the Technical University of Aachen, Germany.  He is based in Zurich.

Matthias Horntrich, Chief Underwriting Officer of XL's International Property Insurance group added:  "Our customers should have a choice! That's why we are proud to be able to offer them the flexibility of a customized approach to their risk management needs with a highly qualified global engineering team which can provide input for superior underwriting decisions.  Our new Regional Engineering Leaders will play a key role assuring that we optimize our risk engineering capabilities to their fullest."

According to Tim Heinze, Head of XL GAPS, "XL GAPS remains committed to our loss prevention customers – those businesses that rely on us for loss prevention surveys, employee training and other loss prevention services outside their insurance program.  In fact, we now have even more engineering resources to bring to bear for our customers and look forward to growing with them and helping them keep their operations running profitably."

About XL's Insurance Segment

The Insurance segment of XL Group plc offers property, casualty, professional and specialty insurance products globally. Businesses that are moving the world forward choose XL as their partner. To learn more, visit www.xlgroup.com/insurance

About XL GAPS

XL GAPS provides property loss prevention consulting and delivers individually tailored solutions to protect and enhance property, production, and profit. XL GAPS, with engineers in 18 countries, brings clients occupancy specific experience as well as deep knowledge of specific hazards across industries. More information about XL GAPS is available at www.xlgaps.com.

About XL Group plc

XL Group plc, through its subsidiaries, is a global insurance and reinsurance company providing property, casualty and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world.   XL is the company clients look to for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. Its principal offices are located at No.1 Hatch Street Upper, 4th Floor, Dublin 2, Ireland. To learn more, visit www.xlgroup.com

SOURCE XL Group plc