Brit strengthens casualty business in California

Brit has appointed Garick Zillgitt to the position of vice president of primary general liability, and Justin Magee to vice president of excess casualty to Brit Global Specialty USA (BGSU).

The two appointments, both based in California, in Walnut Creek and Los Angeles respectively, strengthen BGSU’s casualty portfolio, led by Doug Trainor, executive vice president of casualty.

Zillgitt reports to Mark Richards, senior vice president of general liability, while Magee reports to Jon Liening, senior vice president of excess casualty.

Zillgitt brings over thirty-five years of underwriting experience across various casualty classes and joins from Swiss Re where he was vice president with responsibility for the western region territory wholesale produced excess and surplus (E&S) casualty business. He also spent five years at Rockhill Insurance Company, where he developed and launched the general liability E&S business and led the sale of the surety team to AmTrust.

Magee was most recently at Redstone Underwriters where he was a senior vice president, focussed on contractors’ general liability. He has also held senior casualty underwriting roles at Pioneer Programs Insurance Solutions and Ironshore Insurance, having started his career at Lexington Insurance underwriting construction risk.

BGSU has been steadily growing the casualty and professional lines offering, most recently with the appointment of Mark Richards as senior vice president of general liability in 2018. Nick Davies, president of Brit Americas, said the hires “bring both extensive experience of successfully writing casualty business, and their market relationships will help drive growth in the segment. Their appointments will build on the strong momentum we have seen in casualty classes over the last few years.”