Resigned AIG Executives Joining Berkshire Hathaway
April 29, 2013 by Best's News Service
NEW YORK – The four senior American International Group executives that resigned April 25 are joining Berkshire Hathaway, a company spokeswoman confirmed to Best’s News Service.
The spokeswoman, Carrie Sova, did not say in what capacity they would be serving, only that they were joining the company.
The executives that left AIG were: Peter Eastwood, president and chief executive officer of AIG Property/Casualty for the Americas; David J. Bresnahan, president of Lexington Insurance Co.; David Fields, AIG’s global head of casualty insurance; and Sanjay Godhwani, president of AIG property/casualty for Latin America and the Caribbean, according to AIG spokesman Matt Gallagher (Best’s News Service, April 26, 2013).
“AIG has strong leadership in place,” Gallagher said in an email to Best’s News Service. “AIG has a seasoned and very deep bench of talented property and casualty executives ready to assume broader responsibilities. We have hired a number of strong industry leaders over the past few years, including in commercial underwriting, specialty and aerospace, and our executives have the hard-earned experience of leading our business through unprecedented times and circumstances. We continue to look to tomorrow and the opportunities ahead for AIG and our customers.”
Gallagher would not comment beyond the statement on replacements for the executives who left AIG.
Eastwood, the most senior of the men to leave, had been a longtime AIG executive and served in various positions in his 22 years at the company. He took over as president and chief executive officer of Lexington, AIG’s excess and surplus lines carrier, in 2008 following the defection of Kevin Kelley to Ironshore (Best’s News Service, Dec. 9, 2008). Bresnahan took over as president of Lexington in 2011 when Eastwood was promoted to his most recent position with AIG (Best’s News Service, July 26, 2011). Bresnahan joined AIG in 1995 and held various positions with the company’s subsidiaries.
AIG in 2011 was the second-largest U.S. surplus lines writer with direct written premiums of $5.3 billion, according to a Best’s Special Report on U.S. surplus lines. Berkshire Hathaway in 2011 was the 16th-largest writer, with direct premiums written of $383.8 million.
Most rated AIG companies currently have a Best’s Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent), while Berkshire Hathaway companies of Government Employees Group, General Re Group, and National Indemnity Co. are rated A++ (Superior). At close of the market on April 26, shares of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) were trading at $40.87, down 3.33% from the previous close. Share of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) were at $160,618, down 0.25% from the previous close. (By Michael Buck, senior associate editor, BestWeek: Michael.Buck@ambest.com) BN-NJ-04-26-2013 1658 ET #
