WR Berkley names Griffith president of E&S unit Aspire

WR Berkley has appointed former QBE and Hartford executive Brian Griffith as president of Berkley Aspire, succeeding Miklos Kallo.

Griffith’s appointment is effective immediately. Kallo will support Griffith and the Berkley Aspire team throughout the transition with the company saying he will take on certain responsibilities at the corporate level.

Berkley Aspire provides E&S lines coverage to small to medium-sized insureds with low to moderate insurance risk in product lines including primary and excess general liability, property and inland marine.

Griffith has nearly 30 years of experience in the property casualty insurance industry. Most recently, he was chief sales and marketing officer at One Call Care Management, which provides cost containment services to the workers compensation industry.

Before that, he was executive vice president of field management and distribution at QBE North America for two years. He also worked at The Hartford for more than 20 years, starting as a workers comp underwriter and moving into senior leadership roles including regional underwriting executive, vice president of strategy and national head of sales and marketing.

His predecessor Kallo joined WR Berkley in 1999 as chief financial officer of Preferred Employers Insurance, became chief financial officer of Nautilus Insurance Group in 2008 and was named president of Berkley Aspire in 2017.

Robert Berkley, president and CEO of WR Berkley, commented of Kallo: “With his extensive knowledge of the property casualty insurance business and his hands-on experience in managing several of our operating units, Mick will be a great asset to our corporate activities.”