Expansive BMS signs up Irvan from Willis Re

Willis Re North America executive Jeff Irvan has resigned from the firm to join ambitious reinsurance broker BMS as chief property officer, The Insurer can reveal.

The move is the latest by the expansive intermediary in the US as it continues to add senior hires to fuel growth with strong backing from its new owners, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) and Preservation Capital Partners (PCP).

Sources said that over the next four years the US reinsurance broking platform of BMS is looking to double its annual revenues.

Irvan, who will officially join BMS in late November, most recently ran Willis Re’s E&S property segment and headed up the intermediary’s Atlanta office. The executive was at the firm for more than 20 years after joining from Sedgwick Re in 1997.

Irvan will join an executive committee at BMS’s reinsurance brokerage platform in the US that also includes recent hires Pete Chandler and Gregg Holtmeier.

Former JLT Re US deputy CEO Chandler joined BMS as president of US reinsurance back in May, with Holtmeier added last month as chief strategy officer. Holtmeier had been North American casualty team leader at JLT Re.

The hires are the most senior made by BMS as it looks to further build out its reinsurance platform in the US.

The firm is one of several contenders including TigerRisk, Beach and Lockton looking to significantly grow to fill the position below the big three reinsurance brokers left by the folding of JLT Re into Guy Carpenter following the MMC-JLT acquisition.

Its focus is largely on the MGA and program space, as well as the regional and mutual segment of the carrier US P&C market, where it has built a portfolio that includes its cornerstone book of professional liability clients.

The hire of Irvan will add contacts in the fast-growing E&S segment and in property.

The fight for fourth

BMS believes it has an advantage in its bid to become the next alternative to the big three in the space because it already has a meaningful revenue base to work from and what it says are significant analytics capabilities.

It also has long-term investment from its new owners in the form of Canadian pension fund BCI and middle market private equity firm PCP.

In an interview, Irvan told The Insurer that the opportunity to join BMS had proved compelling.

“BMS has all the building blocks to be the next big alternative to the big three and to fill that void in the market. They have a head start because they already have critical mass and the analytics capabilities,” he said.

BMS US reinsurance CEO Steve Korducki added that the firm is actively looking to hire more senior talent that fits its collaborative culture with executives that are “passionate about their clients and their clients’ success”.

“We have built a very high touch service organization. We have more than doubled our number of actuarial staff in the last couple of years, and built a top analytics team, including in cat.

“We are looking for brokers who really value that and know how to use it to serve their clients and build their business,” he said.

Korducki said the firm is seeing strong growth opportunities from collaborating with the London operations of wholesale and reinsurance broker BMS.

The London operations are overseen by Nick Cook, who is also global CEO of BMS.

“We’re seeing more and more transatlantic collaboration with our colleagues and we’re really just scratching the surface of what we can do together,” said Korducki.

“That will help support our growth in addition to the new broker hires.”

Willis Re declined to comment on this article.