Ace Consolidates Commercial and Inland Marine Units

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December 28, 2009 Monday 04:31 PM EST

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Ace Consolidates Commercial and Inland Marine Units

Meg Green

PHILADELPHIA

Ace Group is consolidating its commercial marine and inland marine business units in Ace USA, its U.S.-based retail operating division, to better meet the global needs of its customers.

Bruce Jervis, who was named executive vice president of commercial and inland marine, will set the overall direction and strategy for this newly formed unit.

He said the consolidation was "part of an overall strategy to coordinate Ace's first-party business and to allow us to more effectively bring our products and services to the market."

Paul O'Neill, chief underwriting officer, said there's a lot of similarities between ocean and inland marine. "The way we have set things up, we will still run them as distinct departments for people who want to access them that way, but having them in the same unit will strengthen both lines. We are hoping the whole is greater than the sum of its parts," he said.

Jervis said a growing number of Ace's customers need to access both ocean marine and inland marine business. For instance, a construction project may have inland marine coverage for its construction material being transported in the United States, but might need coverage for materials coming in overseas.

"We're finding more and more transportation and logistics companies with operations that span worldwide," Jervis said. "We see the ability to more effectively coordinate the product delivery under a commonly managed marine group."

Bob Gallozzi, who'll report to Jervis, will continue in his role as senior vice president of commercial marine, and lead Ace USA's delivery of marine cargo, hull and liability strategies to the marketplace.

Jervis will continue to report to Paul McNamee, president, of Ace North America Property & Specialty.

Based in San Francisco, Jervis most recently served as senior vice president of Ace USA's retail Inland Marine Unit, a position he has held since March 2007. With more than 16 years of insurance industry experience, Jervis previously held the position of vice president, inland marine, for Ace Westchester Specialty.

Based in New York City, Gallozzi has more than 30 years of commercial marine underwriting management experience in the insurance arena. He joined an Ace predecessor organization in 1990 as senior marine underwriter and has held several regional roles, including serving as marine vice president, commercial marine.

Most Ace companies currently have a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior).

The stock of Ace Ltd. (NYSE: ACE) was trading at $50.23 a share on the afternoon of Dec. 28, up 0.36% from the previous close.

(By Meg Green, senior associate editor, BestWeek: [email protected])

December 29, 2009