Chubb shuffles real estate and hospitality execs

Chubb Ltd. on Wednesday announced a series of executive appointments in its real estate and hospitality practice, effective immediately.

Seth Gillston has been named to the newly created position of executive vice president, real estate and hospitality industry practice leader in Chubb’s North American major accounts division, the insurer said in a statement. He will continue in his current role of leading the mergers and acquisitions and private equity practice. Based in New York, he reports to Matt Merna, chief operating officer of Chubb North America major accounts.

Steven Reiss, named executive vice president, real estate and hospitality industry practice, will assist in overseeing the day-to-day operations for the company’s major accounts real estate and hospitality industry practice area and report to Mr. Gillston. He is based in New York.

Tom Agnello, now responsible for leading the practice’s center of excellence, was named casualty practice leader for the real estate practice and will report to Mr. Reiss. Mr. Agnello will have underwriting authority to manage the casualty insurance coverage needs of the real estate, hospitality, gaming and financial institutions industry practices, the statement said.

Luke Testa was named Chubb’s real estate casualty underwriting manager and will lead a team of underwriters dedicated to the real estate practice, reporting to Mr. Agnello.

Ted Aitken, who will also report to Mr. Agnello, will lead Chubb’s casualty practice for major accounts financial institutions with large real estate operations.

Existing zonal leaders from Chubb’s private equity practice, including Meg McSherry in the East Coast market, Erica Nolda in the Midwest market, and Marife Molina in the West Coast market, will work closely with Hemant Sarma, Chubb’s senior vice president of real estate underwriting, to further support and strengthen the unit, the statement said.

“Through this new structure, our clients will benefit from greater depth of resources, including a broader set of casualty coverage solutions, claims management capabilities and focused loss control services,” Mr. Merna said in the statement.