Guy Carpenter today announced the appointments of Eric Simpson as Managing Director and Mark Murray as Senior Vice President. Mr. Murray reports to Mr. Simpson, who reports directly to Jack Snyder, Managing Director, Head of the Rating Agency Practice, Guy Carpenter Strategic Advisory. Both are based in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Simpson joined Guy Carpenter on April 28 and Mr. Murray on April 21.
"Eric is highly regarded in the industry as a trusted advisor. The combination of his executive rating agency experience and senior financial management experience with (re)insurers enables him to work with clients across a range of rating, capital management, and risk management issues. We have a long history of working together and it is exciting to have him on the Guy Carpenter team," Mr. Snyder commented. "In addition, Mark brings very broad knowledge and rating expertise with regional companies. He provides valuable insights and analysis to our regional and mutual company clients," Mr. Snyder concluded.
"For years Guy Carpenter Strategic Advisory has been helping clients anticipate and solve for a range of challenges and opportunities, and as the dynamics of the market continue to evolve, we will continue to invest in the solutions and professionals needed to help our clients achieve profitable growth," commented Andrew Marcell, CEO of US Operations, Guy Carpenter. "Recognizing the range of capital management, ERM and rating challenges our clients face, we have significantly expanded our rating agency practice. Guy Carpenter Strategic Advisory has the strongest rating advisory offering in the industry and Eric and Mark further enhance our existing practice led by Jack Snyder," Mr. Marcell concluded.
Eric Simpson is a well-known industry executive with deep rating agency knowledge and expertise, particularly with A.M. Best. Mr. Simpson will significantly enhance Guy Carpenter's rating advisory capabilities and will be responsible for helping US-based clients address evolving rating agency requirements including Best's stochastic-based BCAR model and regulatory challenges posed by ORSA in the context of executing their business plans and enhancing their performance and risk-based decisions. Mr. Simpson will also provide leadership and coordination to Guy Carpenter's Strategic Advisory practice, led by our fast growing ERM and Economic Capital Modeling offerings.
Mr. Simpson has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry and was most recently the head of JLT Towers Re's (formerly Towers Watson Re) global rating agency and ERM practice. He also gained strong practical operating experience with CFO roles at Everest Reinsurance and American Re-Insurance. Mr. Simpson developed his rating agency skills at A.M. Best where he worked for more than 10 years and became the head of the property and casualty rating division. He started his career as a CPA with Peat Marwick in Philadelphia.
Mr. Murray joins Guy Carpenter with over 15 years of rating agency advisory experience. He is responsible for supporting Guy Carpenter's Mutual Company Specialty Practice and providing extensive rating advisory insight and analysis to these clients. Mr. Murray worked for 10 years at JLT Towers Re (formerly Towers Watson Re) as a senior member of the rating advisory and market security units. He also spent five years at A.M. Best where he followed many regional property casualty companies. Mr. Murray has a very strong knowledge of rating agency capital models (A.M. Best and S&P) and will oversee Guy Carpenter's maintenance and development of its rating agency capital tools, including the emergence of A.M. Best's stochastic-based BCAR model.
"We are very excited to have Eric and Mark join Guy Carpenter Strategic Advisory," commented Sherif Zakhary, Managing Director and Head of Strategic Advisory, Americas. "They bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our 150-person strong Global Strategic Advisory platform and will help us further deliver on our goal of being our clients' trusted advisor. We seek to become an extension of our clients to deliver solutions in the areas of risk, capital and market insight that help our clients succeed," Mr. Zakhary concluded.
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