Aspen appoints group president as it focuses on specialty risk transfer

Aspen Insurance Holdings has appointed Jonathan Ritz as president, with immediate effect.

Ritz has been in the re/insurance industry for more than 25 years. He was formerly chief executive officer of Validus’ US insurance operations, including Western World Insurance Group, Crop Risk Services and Validus Specialty, all of which were acquired by AIG in 2018.

He also served as chief operating officer of Validus Holdings, and has held various chief underwriting and operating positions with United America Insurance Group, IFG Companies-Burlington Insurance Group and ICAT Holdings.

In this newly created role Ritz reports to Mark Cloutier, executive chairman and group CEO.

Cloutier said: “In his role as group president, [Ritz] will be joining the group executive committee and group underwriting committee, and will be working very closely with me as we continue to refine and build upon our strategies to make Aspen a recognised leader in the area of specialty risk transfer through the combination of our insurance, reinsurance, and capital market capabilities.”