Chief Claims Officer, Argo Group

BP&C•New York City, NY

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Chief Claims Officer, Argo Group reports directly to the Chief Claims Officer, Clearbrook located in New York City and manages the entire Claims function for Argo. As a member of the executive management team, the Chief Claims Officer, Argo Group is responsible for the overall strategic direction, executive leadership, and management of all the Argo Group’s claims operations. This includes Casualty, Operations, Property, Reinsurance, Surety, and Workers’ Compensation Claims. The position manages five direct reports and approximately 150 indirect reports. The Chief Claims Officer, Argo Group collaborates with the other Argo Group executives in Underwriting, Actuarial, Finance, Risk, and Legal formulating both strategic plans and policy to meet group profitability and growth objectives. The Chief Claims Officer, Argo Group provides claim leadership and direction to the Senior Management of all the Argo Group claims operations with a focus on supporting the consistent execution of claims functions and maintenance of operational excellence.

Requirements

Accomplished and highly capable insurance professional with significant experience in a senior management commercial property and casualty claims role within an organization with a full-scale domestic orientation.
Highly effective leadership skills and a consistent record of superior results in leading a successful commercial claims organization with operations located throughout the United States and Bermuda.
Thorough understanding of property and casualty financial and actuarial concepts and requirements and their influence on the claims reserving process and financial outcomes.
Experience in designing and implementing claims technology solutions.
Possesses an analytic and metric driven focus combined with strong strategy development and execution skills.
Ability to develop and provide corporate presentations to senior and executive claims management that are based upon metric-driven analysis and conclusions.
Proven business leader with strong knowledge of Argo Group US, Inc.’s business but who also understands return on capital, expense, risk, and efficient use of capital but also understands how these link together and can translate them into actions.
Demonstrates inner strength. Has the courage to do the right thing and demonstrates it daily.
Intellectual curiosity. Consistently considers all options and is not governed by conventional thinking.
Ability to build commitment both internally and externally.
Ability to communicate compelling and inspired corporate vision and to gain support for his/her views, opinions, and decisions.
Strong focus on selection – determined to have the right people who do the best job. Has a reputation for his/her ability to identify, attract and hire talented people.
Dedicated to developing talent. Understands and is committed to developing people so that they realize their full potential.
A team builder, someone who understands that success is dependent upon the performance of the team and not individual team members. Creates strong morale and spirit within the team: shares wins and celebrates success as a team.
Possesses an extensive knowledge and experience with adjudicating and management claims for a portfolio of commercial products/program lines including surety, auto, general liability, workers’ compensation, property, asbestos/environmental, reinsurance and the relevant claims handling practices supporting such products/programs.
Skilled in coverage, liability and damages analysis possesses a comprehensive knowledge of the litigation management process, relevant case regulation and statutory law.
J.D. from an accredited law school.

Nice To Haves

A CPCU or other relevant professional designation is desirable.

Responsibilities

Partners with key Argo Group executives to develop strategic and operational plans aimed at achieving both growth and profitability targets.
Works collaboratively with representatives of the corporate actuarial team.
Strategically manages teams led by People Managers to provide customers and partners with strong claims service and technical capabilities. This includes sophisticated coverage analysis, timely claims resolution, and strong negotiation of settlements.
Leads, directs, and has leadership accountability for establishing claims and that there are performance objectives and performance metrics in place at all organizational levels to both support and meet set objectives.
Drives continuous improvement through initiatives involving the employees, processes, and technology.
Identifies and implements claims best practices in all operating units for proper and consistent claims performance to include management responsibility for claims compliance (OFAC, Medicare Reporting, Adjuster Licensing, SOX etc.) and achieving the appropriate financial outcomes.
Effectuates claims resolution and process improvement while maximizing cost effectiveness and educating the business managers/leaders as to claims drivers and trends.
Ability to establish working relationships with a variety of types of claims vendors and to negotiate the vendor contracts to maximize the financial benefit to Argo Group and its customers.
Expertise in claims litigation management. Must have a proven track record of successful outcomes in this regard and be able to establish and maintain an enterprise-wide a specialized litigation management unit.
Provides guidance and direction to claims managers and professionals through a continuous process of management involvement.
Supports the claims selection process to retain claims professionals that consistently demonstrate appropriate technical expertise, maturity, and a professional commitment to excellence.
Ability to establish mentoring relationships with key employees and participates in the development of succession and training plans for critical positions.
Ability to drive consistent and timely application of claim adjudication and litigation management strategies.
Ability to proactively communicate accurate and timely reflection of loss development, potential/actual financial exposure, coverage issues, claim strategies and ALAE and ULAE containment.
Demonstrates superior knowledge of complex claims situations and all aspects of litigation management process.
Demonstrates ability to make timely, solid decisions and recommendations supportive of strategic outcome/results.
Maintains productive relationships with clients, business partners and organizational peers with a focus on timely and meaningful exchanges of information.