Martello Re appoints former Barings executive as CIO

Bermuda-based life and annuity reinsurer Martello Re has appointed former Barings executive Michael Baumstein as the company's chief investment officer and chief financial officer, effective immediately.

Baumstein, who was most recently head of private equity and real assets at Barings as well as a Martello Re board member, will be responsible for leadership of Martello Re's investment and finance functions, supporting its current reinsurance agreements as well as building out the infrastructure to support future growth. Michael will join Martello Re's executive leadership team, reporting to chief executive officer, Dennis Ho.

"We are thrilled to have Mike join the team," said Ho. "His experience, expertise, and passion for the business will be a tremendous asset to our cedants and investors and helps to position Martello Re well for our long-term growth plans."

Baumstein said: "I've enjoyed supporting the launch of Martello Re in my role at Barings and as a board member, and am now looking forward to working with the management team directly to help drive the company's next phase of growth."

Martello Re said it has also expanded Alana Rathbun's role and she is now chief governance, risk, and compliance officer and has promoted Virginia Perinelli to chief strategy and implementation officer.

Commenting on these promotions, Ho said: "Both Alana and Virginia have been with Martello Re since the company's launch and have been key contributors to the build out and growth of our platform. I look forward to continuing to work together with them to execute on our strategy of building a premier reinsurer to support the top insurers in the US asset-intensive life and annuity markets."

Martello Re is a Class E life and annuity reinsurer that provides reinsurance solutions to top US writers of asset-intensive life and annuity products. It was founded in 2022,and is backed by $1.65 billion of capital.