Ex-AIG Chief Martin Sullivan Resigns as Chairman of Transatlantic

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July 2, 2008 Wednesday 04:11 PM EST

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Ex-AIG Chief Martin Sullivan Resigns as Chairman of Transatlantic

David Dankwa

NEW YORK

Former American International Group chief executive Martin J. Sullivan has resigned from the board of reinsurer Transatlantic Holdings. Sullivan, who served as chairman, will be replaced by Robert F. Orlich, the president and CEO of Transatlantic Holdings, on an interim basis.

For Orlich, this is the second time in three year that he's assumed the interim chairman post. He took on the responsibility in 2005 for a brief period after AIG's former long-time chief executive Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg, who also served as Transatlantic's chairman, resigned following his forced resignation at AIG amid an accounting scandal. Months later, Orlich gave up the chairman's role to Sullivan, who succeeded Greenberg.

AIG owns about 60% of Transatlantic and has traditionally maintained several seats on Transatlantic's board. Currently, AIG has Steven Bensinger, vice chairman of financial services, and Thomas Tizzio, who was senior vice chairman for general insurance, serving on the board.

Robert Willumstad, the newly-appointed CEO of AIG, is the likely person to replace Sullivan on Transatlantic's board, but a spokesman for reinsurer said that might not happen for a while.

"He's got a few things on his mind right now," said Transatlantic's Steven S. Skalicky. "Even after Hank resigned, if you're going to use that as precedent, it took a while before they decided who was going to come on board."

Sullivan resigned June 15, forced out by the board, after AIG posted $7.8 billion first-quarter loss and announced it was going to raise $20 billion in new capital. He and AIG's management had come under increasing fire from major shareholders (BestWire, May 8 and May 20, 2008).

Headquartered in New York, Transatlantic has operations on six continents. Its subsidiaries offer reinsurance capacity on both a treaty and facultative basis -- structuring programs for a full range of property/ casualty products, with an emphasis on specialty risks.

Transatlantic Holdings Inc. Group currently has a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior).

(By David Dankwa, senior associate editor, BestWeek: [email protected])

July 3, 2008