INTERNATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Senior Captive Consultant / Hylant Global Captive Solutions
Job Titles:
- Executive
- CEO, Global Risk and Captive Solutions / Hylant Global Captive Solutions
A veteran of the captive insurance industry, Ms. Towle leads the Global Risk and Captive Solutions team at Hylant. She has 30 years of experience with diverse projects and has worked with captives and other alternative risk transfer vehicles in many key onshore and offshore domiciles. Ms. Towle manages captive projects through feasibility and implementation, developing unique customized structures tailored to each client's needs. She has been instrumental in arranging fronting and reinsurance programs for her captive clients. Prior to joining Hylant, Ms. Towle was an executive vice president with JLT and formerly a senior consultant with Willis Towers Watson for over 7 years. Ms. Towle also spent time as a senior manager in public accounting and 10 years in taxation, where she provided consultancy services to captive owners. She managed client projects through feasibility and implementation processes in structuring captives and managed their accounting and tax compliance functions. Before that, for over 6 years, Ms. Towle worked in private industry in the insurance tax departments of several Fortune 500 insurance and financial institution companies.
Job Titles:
- Freelance Reporter for IRMI
Jerry Geisel: Mr. Geisel is a freelance reporter for IRMI, where he covers captive insurance company issues for Captive.com.
Mr. Geisel worked for nearly 40 years in Washington as a reporter focusing on a wide range of issues, including captive insurance and employee benefit developments. He was a recipient of reporting awards from the Chicago Society of Business Press Editors.
Mr. Geisel holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and an M.S. from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Job Titles:
- IRMI 's Executive Vice President and Chief
Joel A. Appelbaum: Mr. Appelbaum is IRMI's executive vice president and chief content officer, and he brings to the role over 30 years of experience with the insurance industry. Before joining IRMI, Mr. Appelbaum was the president of the construction division for ProSight Specialty Insurance. He specialized in providing insurance solutions for the construction industry. Previously, Mr. Appelbaum was the enterprise chief risk officer for Zurich Insurance in North America and the chief underwriting officer at Zurich Direct Underwriters. Before that, he was the construction risk officer at CNA Insurance in many roles working with large risk alternatives such as reinsurance related to client captives, captive formation, fronting, and large risk rating alternatives.
Mr. Pontin is chief growth officer at Captive Resources.
Kate Westover: Ms. Westover has over 30 years' experience in the captive insurance industry, designing and delivering captive programs that help individuals and businesses reach their risk management objectives. She has worked with captive insurance companies in Vermont, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and other captive jurisdictions around the world and served as captive adviser to the District of Columbia Captive Insurance Division and as international business representative for the government of Barbados.
As the author of Captives and the Management of Risk and Captive Practices and Procedures, she assisted in the development of curriculum for the International Center for Captive Education and other captive education groups and regulatory bodies. In 2002, she was awarded the Vermont Captive Insurance Association's Industry Service Award and in 2009 the Captive Insurance Association's Distinguished Service Award. In 2018, she was inducted into the industry's Hall of Fame, which recognizes the most influential individuals in the captive insurance industry over the past 50 years.
Ms. Westover has a B.A. and an M.A. from Oxford University, England. She earned her CPCU designation in 1991.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Manager of Global and Captive Insurance Group / Comerica Bank
Mr. Ellis is senior vice president and manager of Comerica Bank's Global and Captive Insurance Group, which specializes in providing banking services such as revolving credit facilities, letters of credit, treasury management, asset management, and trust custody to insurance, reinsurance, and captive insurance companies in the United States, Canada, Bermuda, Barbados, and the Cayman Islands. He has over 25 years' experience at Comerica, providing a full range of business banking solutions, including acquisition financing to companies in many different industries, such as insurance, brokerage, and finance. Mr. Ellis is a Certified Public Accountant and has a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Notre Dame and a master of business administration degree from the University of Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Principal / Michael Maglaras & Company
Job Titles:
- AXA XL 's Head of Global Programs
- Head of Global Programs and Captive Practice North America
Steve Bauman is AXA XL's head of global programs and captive practice, North America. Based in New York, he oversees the growth and development of AXA XL's global insurance programs and captive business in North America. Mr. Bauman provides technical support across business lines in structuring global captive programs, ensures captive programs are in compliance and following best practices, and works with AXA XL clients and broking partners to develop new and innovative captive products.
He has more than 30 years of experience in corporate insurance and captive services on both the broker and insurance company sides of the business. He returned to AXA XL after serving at Zurich Insurance as head of captive programs and in Aon's Captive Services Group as a senior vice president. He served as New York office and East Coast marketing manager for AXA XL (formally XL Winterthur International) from 1999 to 2005. Earlier, he worked at Marsh-NY as a senior vice president in the Global Services Group. He began his career in 1987 at American Risk Management, which was part of the Reiss Organization, then Swiss Re.
His areas of expertise include property-casualty insurance and reinsurance, with an emphasis on captive programs for large national and multinational corporations that use various loss retention mechanisms, risk transfer, and reinsurance products for various risk management concerns.
He serves with several professional organizations, including Vermont Captive Insurance Association as a member of the Board of Directors and on the Legislative Committee. He has been a member of the Board of Directors for the International Center for Captive Insurance Education and has worked with US state governments on captive insurance issues. Mr. Bauman holds a master's degree in management from Stevens Institute of Technology and a bachelor of arts degree in economics and political science from Colgate University. He is based in New York.
Job Titles:
- Leave Delaware Captive Bureau Director Post
Job Titles:
- Rejoins AXA XL 's Bermuda Professional Lines Team