Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company Expands into Australia,
April 26 2015 - 7:05PM
Business Wire
Names Chris Colahan as President,
Australasia
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSI) today
announced that it has received its insurance license to provide all
lines of General Business in Australia, established operations in
Sydney, and named Chris Colahan as President of its Australasia
Region.
"BHSI is committed to expanding into geographic markets and
lines of business where we can provide financially strong, highly
responsive underwriting solutions and market leading service. Our
move into Australia reflects this strategy. Under Chris’
leadership, we’ve already built a stellar underwriting, claims, and
functional team to serve the needs of the Australian market,” said
Peter Eastwood, President of BHSI.
Beginning immediately, BHSI will be providing property,
casualty, financial lines and marine cargo insurance in
Australia.
Chris joins BHSI from RSA Insurance Group, where he was most
recently Chief Executive Officer, Asia, and before that, Chief
Executive Officer, Hong Kong. He was also previously Country
Manager, Singapore Retail, and Regional Manager, Strategy and
Change, Asia and the Middle East, at RSA. He began his career in
Australia at Westpac Banking Corporation.
Chris graduated from Australia's Bond University with both
bachelor's of Law (Honors) and bachelor's of Commerce degrees.
"It is exciting for me both personally and professionally to
bring the trusted Berkshire Hathaway brand to my home country and
to the Australian insurance marketplace," said Chris. "BHSI enters
the market with financially strong capacity and a commitment to
serving this market for decades to come."
Along with Chris, BHSI's leadership team in Sydney includes:
- Frank Costigan, Chief Financial Officer
and Chief Operating Officer, Australasia
- Cameron McLisky, Head of Executive and
Professional Lines, Australasia
- Anne O'Keefe, Head of Human Resources,
Australasia
- Susan Donaldson, Head of Claims,
Australia
- Andrew Spurr, Head of Casualty,
Australia
- Craig Taylor, Head of Property,
Australia
- Matthew Clarke, Manager of Professional
Indemnity Lines, Australia
- Daniel Cole, Manager, Mining, Energy
and Power, Australia
- Mark Dixon, Manager, Marine Insurance,
Australia
- Ryan Thomas, Manager, D&O Liability
Insurance, Australia
In addition to its Australian platform, BHSI has established
operations in the United States, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong
with underwriting and service teams in each market. BHSI also is
currently pursuing its insurance license in New Zealand.
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (www.bhspecialty.com)
provides commercial property, casualty, healthcare professional
liability, executive and professional lines, surety, travel,
programs, and homeowners insurance. It underwrites on the paper of
Berkshire Hathaway's National Indemnity group of insurance
companies, which hold financial strength ratings of A++ from AM
Best and AA+ from Standard & Poor's. Based in Boston, Berkshire
Hathaway Specialty Insurance has offices in Atlanta, Boston,
Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San
Francisco, San Ramon, Stevens Point, Toronto, Auckland, Hong Kong,
Singapore and Sydney. For more information, contact Chris Colahan
at +61 2 8002 2101 or chris.colahan@bhspecialty.com.
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty InsuranceJoAnn Lee,
617-936-2937