Markel appoints marine & energy liability lead for international

Grant Smith has been appointed director, marine & energy liability, international specialty at Markel. In his new role, Smith will lead the marine & energy liability team across Markel’s international wholesale business. Markel launched its international specialty practice last December.

According to Markel, Smith will be responsible “for driving sustainable, profitable growth initiatives that align with Markel’s long-term strategic vision, aiming to expand market share and further establish Markel as a market leader in marine and energy liabilities. He will also focus on strengthening relationships with key stakeholders and developing and nurturing existing underwriting talent.”

Smith will be based in London and report to Tom Hillier, managing director, international specialty, at Markel. Hillier said: “Clients currently face a challenging environment, because of economic inflation and changes to regulatory and legal frameworks, combined with emerging technological and climate-related liability risks, making it increasingly important to ensure they have insurance cover that meets their evolving needs.”

He added: “When we established the specialty practice within our international wholesale business last year, we set out ambitious goals for our marine & energy liability team, centred on the delivery of sustainable, profitable growth and establishing ourselves as a leader in the market in terms of underwriting and service. I’m therefore delighted to welcome Grant on board to lead our marine & energy liability team. I’m confident his background and experience will position him to lead the team to deliver on our ambitious goals for this class of business and provide a superior service proposition to our clients and brokers.”

Smith has extensive knowledge of the liability insurance market, having spent more than 17 years of his career working in various underwriting and leadership positions across this class of business. He joins Markel from QBE, where he was most recently portfolio manager specialty, QBE European Operations. Prior to joining QBE as a marine & energy liability underwriter in 2011, Smith had spent five years working in various underwriting roles across marine and aviation at Travelers.