Headquarters:
Toronto, ON, Canada
Year founded:
1966
Number of employees:
~100
Phone:
647 269 9780
Email:
maddie.dickson@markel.com
Website:
www.markelinternational.ca
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/markel-canada
“PFR at Markel is making important structural changes to support more defined product differentiation between professional liability and management liability”
Christopher Kelen,
Markel Canada
Read on
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Award Winner
Markel Canada
David Crozier
President and Managing Director
Jennifer Devereaux
Senior Vice President Underwriting
Jeff Smith
Senior Vice President,
Claims and Operations
Leadership
David Crozier joined Markel Canada in June 2018, and assumed the role of president and divisional managing director at the end of that year. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic direction, oversight and results of the company’s operations in Canada. With a career spanning almost 30 years, Dave previously served as president and chief executive officer of Everest Insurance Company of Canada, responsible for developing and implementing a growth strategy for the start-up operations in Canada. Prior to this, he was vice president, commercial insurance, and later senior vice president, operations, for economical insurance, overseeing all field operations such as underwriting, claims, marketing and branch network, including subsidiaries Westmount Financial, Mattei Underwriting and Family Insurance Solutions.
Dave also served in positions of increasing responsibility at Chubb Insurance Company of Canada, including specialty commercial underwriting, personal insurance, marketing and culminating in branch management as vice president, prairies. He started his career with Continental Canada (now Northbridge) in the underwriting trainee program. Dave graduated from the University of Guelph with an Honours Bachelor of Arts, and holds CIP and CRM designations.
President and Managing Director
David Crozier
Jennifer Devereaux joined Markel Canada in February 2019 and is responsible for underwriting operations focused on risk, oversight, and profit. This includes product, process (underwriting guidelines, appetite, pricing, workflow) and people. The underwriting leadership team reports to Jenn; this includes the vice presidents of products
and underwriting oversight, the sector team, and the underwriting service team.
With over 25 years in the industry, Jenn has technical underwriting and broking experience within global P&C insurance, reinsurance, and brokerage operations. Prior to joining Markel, Jenn held progressively senior roles with major commercial underwriters AIG, ACE, Chubb and Munich, and was part of a leadership start-up team that established specialty insurer Arch Insurance. She also has work experience on the brokerage side, having worked with large commercial brokerages Aon and Marsh. She graduated from Western University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and holds FCIP and CRM designations.
Senior Vice President Underwriting
Jennifer Devereaux
Having joined Markel Canada over five years ago, Jeff Smith is responsible for leading the Toronto-based claims team that supports all product lines across Canada, working closely with the underwriting team. In addition, Jeff is responsible for non-underwriting operations at Markel, including management and oversight of systems and the business analyst team. A large part of his mandate is the development and implementation of Websure, Markel’s new underwriting and service system that launched in September 2020.
Jeff previously held various progressive positions at ACE/Chubb over the course of nearly 14 years, where he was involved in a broad range of commercial lines products, including many of the niche casualty products that Markel currently underwrites. He has experience handling large complex losses and managing national teams. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from York University as well as FCIP and CRM designations.
Senior Vice President, Claims and Operations
Jeff Smith
SPECIAL REPORT
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Bio
“PFR at Markel is making important structural changes to support more defined product differentiation between professional liability and management liability”
Christopher Kelen,
Markel Canada
Read on
Award Winner
Markel Canada
Jeff Sutton
Senior Vice President,
Sales and Marketing
Jennifer Devereaux
Senior Vice President Underwriting
David Crozier
President and Managing Director
Leadership
Headquarters:
Toronto, ON, Canada
Year founded:
1966
Number of employees:
~100
Phone:
647 269 9780
Email:
maddie.dickson@markel.com
Website:
www.markelinternational.ca
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/markel-canada
David Crozier joined Markel Canada in June 2018, and assumed the role of president and divisional managing director at the end of that year. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic direction, oversight and results of the company’s operations in Canada. With a career spanning almost 30 years, Dave previously served as president and chief executive officer of Everest Insurance Company of Canada, responsible for developing and implementing a growth strategy for the start-up operations in Canada. Prior to this, he was vice president, commercial insurance, and later senior vice president, operations, for economical insurance, overseeing all field operations such as underwriting, claims, marketing and branch network, including subsidiaries Westmount Financial, Mattei Underwriting and Family Insurance Solutions.
Dave also served in positions of increasing responsibility at Chubb Insurance Company of Canada, including specialty commercial underwriting, personal insurance, marketing and culminating in branch management as vice president, prairies. He started his career with Continental Canada (now Northbridge) in the underwriting trainee program. Dave graduated from the University of Guelph with an Honours Bachelor of Arts, and holds CIP and CRM designations.
President and Managing Director
David Crozier
Jennifer Devereaux joined Markel Canada in February 2019 and is responsible for underwriting operations focused on risk, oversight, and profit. This includes product, process (underwriting guidelines, appetite, pricing, workflow) and people. The underwriting leadership team reports to Jenn; this includes the vice presidents of products and underwriting oversight, the sector team, and the underwriting service team.
With over 25 years in the industry, Jenn has technical underwriting and broking experience within global P&C insurance, reinsurance, and brokerage operations. Prior to joining Markel, Jenn held progressively senior roles with major commercial underwriters AIG, ACE, Chubb and Munich, and was part of a leadership start-up team that established specialty insurer Arch Insurance. She also has work experience on the brokerage side, having worked with large commercial brokerages Aon and Marsh. She graduated from Western University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and holds FCIP and CRM designations.
Senior Vice President Underwriting
Jennifer Devereaux
Jeff Sutton joined Markel Canada in September 2020 and is responsible for sales, marketing, communications and most field operations. The regional management reports to Jeff, and supports his primary responsibilities of profitable growth, enhanced retention, and improved broker and customer relationships through fresh marketing initiatives.
Jeff is a dynamic sales and marketing executive
with over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, in addition to risk management and operations experience outside the industry. Most recently, Jeff was senior vice president, sales and marketing at ClaimsPro, an SCM company. His team includes the regions, alternative distribution,
business development, and marketing and communications function.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Western Ontario, and an MBA in Global Strategic Management from
the Ted Rogers School of Management at
Ryerson University.
Senior Vice President,
Sales and Marketing
Jeff Sutton
SPECIAL REPORT
Home
Bio
For the second year running, Shielded Insurance Brokers has claimed the number-one spot among IB’s Top Brokerages. In 2020, it was record-setting growth that drove the company’s impressive success. This year, says managing director Stuart Brady, the key ingredient behind the win is the Shielded culture. Brady is proud of the shared vision for constant improvement across all aspects of the business. “We are thrilled to take out the win again, and it’s hats off to the team for their hard work over the past year,” he says.
“PFR at Markel is making important structural changes to support more defined product differentiation between professional liability and management liability”
Christopher Kelen,
Markel Canada
Read on
Award Winner
Markel Canada
Christopher Kelen
Vice President, Professional and Financial Risks
Jennifer Devereaux
Senior Vice President Underwriting
David Crozier
President and Managing Director
Leadership
Headquarters:
Toronto, ON, Canada
Year founded:
1966
Number of employees:
~100
Phone:
647 269 9780
Email:
maddie.dickson@markel.com
Website:
www.markelinternational.ca
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/
markel-canada
SPECIAL REPORT
Home
Bio
David Crozier joined Markel Canada in June 2018, and assumed the role of president and divisional managing director at the end of that year. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic direction, oversight and results of the company’s operations in Canada. With a career spanning almost 30 years, Dave previously served as president and chief executive officer of Everest Insurance Company of Canada, responsible for developing and implementing a growth strategy for the start-up operations in Canada. Prior to this, he was vice president, commercial insurance, and later senior vice president, operations, for economical insurance, overseeing all field operations such as underwriting, claims, marketing and branch network, including subsidiaries Westmount Financial, Mattei Underwriting and Family Insurance Solutions.
Dave also served in positions of increasing responsibility at Chubb Insurance Company of Canada, including specialty commercial underwriting, personal insurance, marketing and culminating in branch management as vice president, prairies. He started his career with Continental Canada (now Northbridge) in the underwriting trainee program. Dave graduated from the University of Guelph with an Honours Bachelor of Arts, and holds CIP and
CRM designations.
President and Managing Director
David Crozier
Jennifer Devereaux joined Markel Canada
in February 2019 and is responsible for underwriting operations focused on risk, oversight, and profit. This includes product, process (underwriting guidelines, appetite, pricing, workflow) and people. The underwriting leadership team reports
to Jenn; this includes the vice presidents
of products and underwriting oversight,
the sector team, and the underwriting service team.
With over 25 years in the industry, Jenn has technical underwriting and broking experience within global P&C insurance, reinsurance, and brokerage operations. Prior to joining Markel, Jenn held progressively senior roles with major commercial underwriters AIG, ACE, Chubb and Munich, and was part of a leadership start-up team that established specialty insurer Arch Insurance. She also has work experience on the brokerage side, having worked with large commercial brokerages Aon and Marsh. She graduated from Western University with a Bachelor of
Arts degree and holds FCIP and
CRM designations.
Senior Vice President Underwriting
Jennifer Devereaux
Jeff Sutton joined Markel Canada in September 2020 and is responsible for sales, marketing, communications and most field operations. The regional management reports to Jeff, and supports his primary responsibilities of profitable growth, enhanced retention, and improved broker and customer relationships through fresh marketing initiatives.
Jeff is a dynamic sales and marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, in addition to risk management and operations experience outside the industry. Most recently, Jeff was senior vice president, sales and marketing at ClaimsPro, an SCM company. His team includes the regions, alternative distribution, business development, and marketing and communications function.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Western Ontario, and an MBA in Global Strategic Management from the Ted Rogers School of Management at
Ryerson University.
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Jeff Sutton
For the second year running, Shielded Insurance Brokers has claimed the number-one spot among IB’s Top Brokerages. In 2020, it was record-setting growth that drove the company’s impressive success. This year, says managing director Stuart Brady, the key ingredient behind the win is the Shielded culture. Brady is proud of the shared vision for constant improvement across all aspects of the business. “We are thrilled to take out the win again, and it’s hats off to the team for their hard work over the past year,” he says.
Jeff Sutton
Senior Vice President,
Sales and Marketing
Jeff Sutton joined Markel Canada in September 2020 and is responsible for sales, marketing, communications and most field operations. The regional management reports to Jeff, and supports
his primary responsibilities of profitable growth, enhanced retention, and improved broker and customer relationships through fresh marketing initiatives.
Jeff is a dynamic sales and marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, in addition to risk management and operations experience outside the industry. Most recently, Jeff was senior vice president, sales and marketing at ClaimsPro, an SCM company. His team includes the regions, alternative distribution, business development, and marketing and communications function.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Western Ontario, and an MBA in Global Strategic Management from the Ted Rogers School of Management at
Ryerson University.
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Jeff Sutton
Jeff Smith
Senior Vice President,
Claims and Operations
Having joined Markel Canada over five years ago, Jeff Smith is responsible for leading the Toronto-based claims team that supports all product lines across Canada, working closely with the underwriting team. In addition, Jeff is responsible for non-underwriting operations at Markel, including management and oversight of systems and the business analyst team. A large part of his mandate is the development and implementation of Websure, Markel’s new underwriting and service system that launched in September 2020.
Jeff previously held various progressive positions at ACE/Chubb over the course of nearly 14 years, where he was involved in a broad range of commercial lines products, including many of the niche casualty products that Markel currently underwrites. He has experience handling large complex losses and managing national teams. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from York University as well as FCIP and CRM designations.
Senior Vice President, Claims and Operations
Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith
Senior Vice President, Claims and Operations
Having joined Markel Canada over five years ago, Jeff Smith is responsible for leading the Toronto-based claims team
that supports all product lines across Canada, working closely with the underwriting team. In addition, Jeff is responsible for non-underwriting operations at Markel, including management and oversight of systems and the business analyst team. A large part of his mandate is the development and implementation of Websure, Markel’s new underwriting and service system that launched in September 2020.
Jeff previously held various progressive positions at ACE/Chubb over the course of nearly 14 years, where he was involved in a broad range of commercial lines products, including many of the niche casualty products that Markel currently underwrites. He has experience handling large complex losses and managing national teams. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from York University as well as FCIP and CRM designations.
Senior Vice President,
Claims and Operations
Jeff Smith
Christopher Kelen
Vice President,
Professional and Financial Risks
Christopher Kelen is an insurance professional with over 10 years of experience working in the Canadian market. During the course of his career, he has focused on the professional liability segment of insurance, with a specific expertise in directors’ and officers’ liability for public companies.
Since joining Markel in 2018, he has led a team of 8 underwriting professionals in the professional and financial risks (PFR) division. The PFR team provides E&O (miscellaneous, technology, A&E, product manufacturers, and medical malpractice), D&O (private, non-for-profit, and public) and cyber insurance solutions to broker partners across the country.
Christopher has an MBA (dean’s honor list) from York University, Bachelor of Commerce (graduated with distinction) from McGill University, and a CRM designation. A native of Ottawa, Christopher is fluently bilingual in English and French.
Vice President, Professional and Financial Risks
Christopher Kelen
Christopher Kelen
Vice President, Professional and Financial Risks
Christopher Kelen is an insurance professional with over 10 years of experience working in the Canadian market. During the course of his career, he has focused on the professional liability segment of insurance, with a specific expertise in directors’ and officers’ liability for public companies.
Since joining Markel in 2018, he has led a team of 8 underwriting professionals in the professional and financial risks (PFR) division. The PFR team provides E&O (miscellaneous, technology, A&E, product manufacturers, and medical malpractice), D&O (private, non-for-profit, and public) and cyber insurance solutions to broker partners across the country.
Christopher has an MBA (dean’s honor list) from York University, Bachelor of Commerce (graduated with distinction) from McGill University, and a CRM designation. A native of Ottawa, Christopher is fluently bilingual in English and French.
Vice President, Professional and Financial Risks
Christopher Kelen
Jeff Sutton
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Christopher Kelen is an insurance professional with over 10 years of experience working in the Canadian market. During the course of his career, he has focused on the professional liability segment of insurance, with a specific expertise in directors’ and officers’ liability for public companies.
Since joining Markel in 2018, he has led a team of 8 underwriting professionals in the professional and financial risks (PFR) division. The PFR team provides E&O (miscellaneous, technology, A&E, product manufacturers, and medical malpractice), D&O (private, non-for-profit, and public) and cyber insurance solutions to broker partners across the country.
Christopher has an MBA (dean’s honor list) from York University, Bachelor of Commerce (graduated with distinction) from McGill University, and a CRM designation. A native of Ottawa, Christopher is fluently bilingual in English and French.
Vice President,
Professional and Financial Risks
Christopher Kelen
Markel Canada is a leading P&C insurer that operates as a syndicate of Lloyd’s. The company is a leader in liability, with developing specialty sectors and user-friendly online business solutions. Markel’s three Canadian offices house market-leading underwriters who work with clients to offer optimal risk management solutions, while their dedicated claims team ensures each claim is handled promptly, professionally and fairly. Their parent company, Markel International, is a subsidiary of Markel Corporation, a US-based holding company for insurance and investment operations around the world.
Professional and financial risks (PFR) is a significant business area for Markel both in Canada and across their global operations. PFR in Canada covers their extensive professional liability and management liability appetite, and also includes their Cyber 360, fintech and financial institutions products.
What distinguishes the PFR team from the competition? “At Markel Canada, we have seen a surplus of sustainable growth in our PFR department, and it’s due to a few different factors,” says Christopher Kelen, vice president of PFR. “Firstly, our product suite; historically, Markel’s MGA-based roots placed us as a specialty market with the ability to write a lot of very niche risks. Although this is still true, our team has done a lot of work to help redefine our appetite and rolled out clearer products and underwriting practices to help establish who we are in the PFR landscape.”
An example of this is their fintech product. As one of the only providers, Markel was able to position itself as a leader in the field. Other offerings and examples include providing an internal Canadian claims team, offering the Markel Connect product that delivers online solutions for small business E&O and D&O, as well as the ability to deploy excess limit capacity on the D&O and E&O towers of some of Canada’s larger companies.
Chris McDonald
AVP,
Professional Liability
Paul Mayer
Executive Vice President,
Investment Sales
Karen Bannister, CM
Vice President, Marketing
Sarah M Stewart
Associate Vice President,
Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Chris McDonald joined Markel Canada in October 2018 as a senior underwriter, bringing over 15 years of underwriting experience to his role. Since then, he has progressed to his current role of AVP, professional liability, managing a national team and providing council and mentorship to the entire PFR team. Chris has a deep and technical understanding of professional and management liability and has both underwritten and helped develop products in emerging industries, including cyber and fintech.
Prior to his role at Markel, Chris had a lengthy career with Encon (now Victor) where his roles progressed from underwriting to managing various divisions within their professional and management risks department. He brings an incredible skillset to his role and is well-versed in underwriting complex risks. A team player, Chris is generous with helping develop his team and brings positivity to all of his endeavors both internally and with Markel’s national broker networks. His certifications include RIBO, CRM and RPLU.
AVP, Professional Liability
Chris McDonald
Paul Mayer has over 20 years of sales and marketing experience at the vice president level. He is a graduate of Queen’s University and has an MBA from IESE Business School in Spain. He speaks English, French, and German, and has an understanding of Spanish.
Executive Vice President, Investment Sales
Paul Mayer
Karen Bannister has over 20 years of marketing expertise and has a Chartered Marketer designation from the Canadian Marketing Association. She is a strategic marketing leader with a career record of success in developing and executing effective marketing strategies, growing revenue, and overseeing multi-talented teams. She also holds five certifications for marketing and brand management.
Karen has successfully completed the Mini-MBA, Essentials of Management program at Schulich School of Business, and most recently completed the Communications and Leadership Program at The Ivey Academy.
Vice President, Marketing
Karen Bannister, CM
Sarah M Stewart has more than 15 years of strategic leasing and customer care experience in residential property management. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Centurion’s national leasing platforms, residential lead generation, and overall customer experience excellence through operation of the company’s internal customer service department.
Associate Vice President, Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Sarah M Stewart
Chris McDonald
AVP,
Professional Liability
Sarah M Stewart
Associate Vice President, Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Karen Bannister, CM
Vice President, Marketing
Paul Mayer
Executive
Vice President, Investment Sales
Chris McDonald joined Markel Canada in October 2018 as a senior underwriter, bringing over 15 years of underwriting experience to his role. Since then, he has progressed to his current role of AVP, professional liability, managing a national team and providing council and mentorship to the entire PFR team. Chris has a deep and technical understanding of professional and management liability and has both underwritten and helped develop products in emerging industries, including cyber and fintech.
Prior to his role at Markel, Chris had a lengthy career with Encon (now Victor) where his roles progressed from underwriting to managing various divisions within their professional and management risks department. He brings an incredible skillset to his role and is well-versed in underwriting complex risks. A team player, Chris is generous with helping develop his team and brings positivity to all of his endeavors both internally and with Markel’s national broker networks. His certifications include RIBO, CRM and RPLU.
AVP, Professional Liability
Chris McDonald
Paul Mayer has over 20 years of sales and marketing experience at the vice president level. He is a graduate of Queen’s University and has an MBA from IESE Business School in Spain. He speaks English, French, and German, and has an understanding of Spanish.
Executive Vice President, Investment Sales
Paul Mayer
Karen Bannister has over 20 years of marketing expertise and has a Chartered Marketer designation from the Canadian Marketing Association. She is a strategic marketing leader with a career record of success in developing and executing effective marketing strategies, growing revenue, and overseeing multi-talented teams. She also holds five certifications for marketing and brand management.
Karen has successfully completed the Mini-MBA, Essentials of Management program at Schulich School of Business, and most recently completed the Communications and Leadership Program at
The Ivey Academy.
Vice President, Marketing
Karen Bannister, CM
Sarah M Stewart has more than 15 years of strategic leasing and customer care experience in residential property management. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Centurion’s national leasing platforms, residential lead generation, and overall customer experience excellence through operation of the company’s internal customer service department.
Associate Vice President, Leasing and
Call Centre Operations
Sarah M Stewart
Chris McDonald
AVP,
Professional Liability
Karen Bannister, CM
Vice President, Marketing
Paul Mayer
Executive
Vice President, Investment Sales
Sarah M Stewart
Associate
Vice President, Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Chris McDonald joined Markel Canada in October 2018 as a senior underwriter, bringing over 15 years of underwriting experience to his role. Since then, he has progressed to his current role of AVP, professional liability, managing a national team and providing council and mentorship to the entire PFR team. Chris has a deep and technical understanding of professional and management liability and has both underwritten and helped develop products in emerging industries, including cyber and fintech.
Prior to his role at Markel, Chris had a lengthy career with Encon (now Victor) where his roles progressed from underwriting to managing various divisions within their professional and management risks department. He brings an incredible skillset to his role and is well-versed in underwriting complex risks. A team player, Chris is generous with helping develop his team and brings positivity to all of his endeavors both internally and with Markel’s national broker networks. His certifications include RIBO, CRM and RPLU.
AVP, Professional Liability
Chris McDonald
Paul Mayer has over 20 years of sales and marketing experience at the vice president level. He is a graduate of Queen’s University and has an MBA from IESE Business School in Spain. He speaks English, French,
and German, and has an understanding
of Spanish.
Executive Vice President,
Investment Sales
Paul Mayer
Karen Bannister has over 20 years of marketing expertise and has a Chartered Marketer designation from the Canadian Marketing Association. She is a strategic marketing leader with a career record of success in developing and executing effective marketing strategies, growing revenue, and overseeing multi-talented teams. She also holds five certifications for marketing and brand management.
Karen has successfully completed the
Mini-MBA, Essentials of Management program at Schulich School of Business, and most recently completed the Communications and Leadership Program at The Ivey Academy.
Vice President, Marketing
Karen Bannister, CM
Sarah M Stewart has more than 15 years
of strategic leasing and customer care experience in residential property management. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Centurion’s national leasing platforms, residential
lead generation, and overall customer experience excellence through operation
of the company’s internal customer
service department.
Associate Vice President,
Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Sarah M Stewart
Furthermore, growth has empowered the PFR team to acquire some of the best and brightest underwriting talent in Canada.
Kelen heads the PFR team and has underwriting representation and authority across all provinces and territories. With domestic capacity and claims handling being one of the strongest benefits of choosing to bind business with Markel Canada, they’re equally backed and supported by Markel International, their professional indemnity team, and have access to knowledge and resources from experts in the PFR landscape. This allows Markel Canada to seamlessly integrate and enhance new products, policyholder services and underwriting practices into their offering with confidence. This enables Markel Canada’s brokers and clients to feel informed, protected and supported from the moment they approach them for a quote.
What’s in the near future for the Markel PFR team? “PFR at Markel is making important structural changes to support more defined product differentiation between professional liability and management liability,” Kelen says. “Part of this change includes underwriters and leadership dedicated to professional liability, which includes fintech, tech E&O and cyber, as well as a similar structure dedicated to management liability and financial institutions.”
Chris McDonald was promoted to AVP, professional liability in 2021, and manages four underwriters as part of that team. The team is also hiring for an AVP/manager to lead its fast-growing management liability and FI portfolio.
“Our ultimate goal is to add products to our PFR repertoire that make sense and that we can offer a truly unique perspective and value to. However, our ambitions do not merely lay in expansion, and the PFR team is more committed to bettering the service and underwriting we currently offer. By remaining agile and on top of the market, we are building trusting and benevolent relationships with our amazing broker force – that is the plan now and forever,” says Kelen.
“By remaining agile and on top of the market, we are building trusting and benevolent relationships with our amazing broker force”
Christopher Kelen,
Markel Canada
Markel Canada is a leading P&C insurer that operates as a syndicate of Lloyd’s. The company is a leader in liability, with developing specialty sectors and user-friendly online business solutions. Markel’s three Canadian offices house market-leading underwriters who work with clients to offer optimal risk management solutions, while their dedicated claims team ensures each claim is handled promptly, professionally and fairly. Their parent company, Markel International, is a subsidiary of Markel Corporation, a
US-based holding company for insurance and investment operations around the world.
Professional and financial risks (PFR) is a significant business area for Markel both in Canada and across their global operations. PFR in Canada covers their extensive professional liability and management liability appetite, and also includes their Cyber 360, fintech and financial institutions products.
What distinguishes the PFR team from the competition? “At Markel Canada, we have seen a surplus of sustainable growth in our PFR department, and it’s due to a few different factors,” says Christopher Kelen, vice president of PFR. “Firstly, our product suite; historically, Markel’s MGA-based roots placed us as a specialty market with the ability to write a lot of very niche risks. Although this is still true, our team has done a lot of work to help redefine our appetite and rolled out clearer products and underwriting practices to help establish who we are in the PFR landscape.”
An example of this is their fintech product. As one of the only providers, Markel was able to position itself as a leader in the field. Other offerings and examples include providing an internal Canadian claims team, offering the Markel Connect product that delivers online solutions for small business
E&O and D&O, as well as the ability to deploy excess limit capacity on the D&O and E&O towers of some of Canada’s larger companies.
“By remaining agile and on
top of the market, we are building trusting and benevolent relationships with our amazing broker force”
Christopher Kelen,
Markel Canada
Furthermore, growth has empowered the PFR team to acquire some of the best and brightest underwriting talent
in Canada.
Kelen heads the PFR team and has underwriting representation and authority across all provinces and territories. With domestic capacity and claims handling being one of the strongest benefits of choosing to bind business with Markel Canada, they’re equally backed and supported by Markel International, their professional indemnity team, and have access to knowledge and resources from experts in the PFR landscape. This allows Markel Canada to seamlessly integrate and enhance new products, policyholder services and underwriting practices into their offering with confidence. This enables Markel Canada’s brokers and clients to feel informed, protected and supported from the moment they approach them for a quote.
What’s in the near future for the Markel PFR team? “PFR at Markel is making important structural changes to support more defined product differentiation between professional liability and management liability,” Kelen says. “Part of this change includes underwriters and leadership dedicated to professional liability, which includes fintech, tech E&O and cyber, as well as a similar structure dedicated to management liability and financial institutions.”
Markel Canada is a leading P&C insurer that operates as a syndicate of Lloyd’s. The company is a leader in liability, with developing specialty sectors and user-friendly online business solutions. Markel’s three Canadian offices house market-leading underwriters who work with clients to offer optimal risk management solutions, while their dedicated claims team ensures each claim is handled promptly, professionally and fairly. Their parent company, Markel International, is a subsidiary of Markel Corporation, a US-based holding company for insurance and investment operations around the world.
Professional and financial risks (PFR) is a significant business area for Markel both in Canada and across their global operations. PFR in Canada covers their extensive professional liability and management liability appetite, and also includes their Cyber 360, fintech and financial institutions products.
What distinguishes the PFR team from the competition? “At Markel Canada, we have seen a surplus of sustainable growth in our PFR department, and it’s due to a few different factors,” says Christopher Kelen, vice president of PFR. “Firstly, our product suite; historically, Markel’s MGA-based roots placed us as a specialty market with the ability to write a lot of very niche risks. Although this is still true, our team has done a lot of work to help redefine our appetite and rolled out clearer products and underwriting practices to help establish who we are in the PFR landscape.”
An example of this is their fintech product. As one of the only providers, Markel was able to position itself as a leader in the field. Other offerings and examples include providing an internal Canadian claims team, offering the Markel Connect product that delivers online solutions for small business E&O and D&O, as well as the ability to deploy excess limit capacity on the D&O
and E&O towers of some of Canada’s
larger companies.
“By remaining agile and
on top of the market, we are building trusting and benevolent relationships with our amazing
broker force”
Christopher Kelen,
Markel Canada
Furthermore, growth has empowered the PFR team to acquire some of the best and brightest underwriting talent in Canada.
Kelen heads the PFR team and has underwriting representation and authority across all provinces and territories. With domestic capacity and claims handling being one of the strongest benefits of choosing to bind business with Markel Canada, they’re equally backed and supported by Markel International, their professional indemnity team, and have access to knowledge and resources from experts in the PFR landscape. This allows Markel Canada to seamlessly integrate and enhance new products, policyholder services and underwriting practices into their offering with confidence. This enables Markel Canada’s brokers and clients to feel informed, protected and supported from the moment they approach them for a quote.
What’s in the near future for the Markel
PFR team? “PFR at Markel is making important structural changes to support more defined product differentiation between professional liability and management liability,” Kelen says.
“Part of this change includes underwriters and leadership dedicated to professional liability, which includes fintech, tech E&O and cyber, as well as a similar structure dedicated to management liability and financial institutions.”