XL grows excess casualty business with experienced underwriting hire

XL Group is continuing the expansion of its global excess casualty team with the appointment of Joanne Damsky as senior underwriter in San Francisco.

She reports to Matt Stitham, vice president of excess casualty’s Western zone.

“XL was born out of a need for quality excess insurance, at a time when some of our country’s largest companies could not get the coverage they needed,” according to Lorraine Seib, president of XL’s global excess casualty business. “We’ve spent the last 25 plus years fulfilling those needs by growing a global team with underwriting operations in Bermuda; Dublin, Ireland; New York; Chicago; Dallas; Exton, Pennsylvania; and San Francisco. We’re excited to continue our geographical expansion by attracting talent like Joanne to our San Francisco team.”

Damsky is a 20-year insurance industry veteran with extensive experience in the excess casualty market. She joins XL Group from Chubb Insurance Group where as a senior underwriting officer; she was responsible for building a profitable book of excess and umbrella insurance business.

“The western US offers tremendous growth opportunities for us,” says Stitham. ”We’re looking forward to growing our excess book, especially our umbrella and upper middle market business, by serving businesses who value our technical expertise and experience handling complex business risks. By attracting seasoned excess underwriters like Joanne to join our team, we are well-positioned to do so.”