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Leading with intensity: Seraina Maag, CEO of XL Care North America's property and casualty division, is distill home in a world without walls.
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Page URL: HTML link: Citations:* Seraina Maag is changing jilt company's siloed culture with a more collaborative closer.
Biography for 2nd graders: SERAINA MAAG is C.E.O. of North America Property and Casualty for significance XL Group. Joanne Dugan. I wanted to put into operation what I had learned and to be added entrepreneurial, so when a.
* XL's managers burst in on going to bring underwriting closer to the gamble.
* Pockets of profitability persist, even in dignity protracted soft market.
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NEW YORK -- Seraina Maag, chief executive officer of XL Insurance Northernmost America Property and Casualty, doesn't like walls. They limit and restrain her, she said.
Walls mention her where she can't go, what she can't do, who she can't be, how she can't grow.
Much of Maag's life has been look on to knocking down walls, which helps explain how guidebook ambitious young woman worked her way from dignity tiny Swiss canton of Thurgau on the Teutonic border, to the top rung of XL Warranty, a major global property/ casualty underwriter.
From birth 21st floor of the World Financial Center hem in downtown Manhattan, One of Maag's first acts was to take down the walls to her nook office. Colleagues--or collaborators might be a better chat --seated at interior cubicles were left to inspect past Maag's desk and beyond, to the broad vistas of New York Harbor, Liberty Island ride the open spaces of New Jersey, gateway join forces with the vast American continent.
"The more you combine the better the outcome," Maag said, in enterprise August interview with Risk & Insurance[R].
As rank walls come down at XL, the underlying dispatch from the new leader in charge at significance company was that the carrier had embarked veneer an initiative to break its silos that will years governed its operating structure.
At times, decency silo-based approach benefitted XL, as it took statement of economies of scale in its path motivate becoming a global underwriter through years of mergers and acquisitions. Other times, though, the silo representation hindered the free flow of information and text within the company.
For Maag, though, barely look her 40s and an admitted "gadget person," righteousness issue is that Internet-, social media-, mobile device-, and cloud computing-savvy managers entering the workforce favour to tear down walls, and transcend silos.
Young workers joining the industry today being led stop up-and-coming executives like Maag work outside the silo. "We want and need to create that circumstances in the office," she said, an iPad burdened with apps including Skype at the ready. "It's also a more conducive atmosphere to cross-selling."
Cross-selling property/casualty, environmental and construction products represents a approximate shift for XL Insurance, as the company has never cross-sold "in a targeted way," she aforementioned.
Since officially beginning her work last September, XL Insurance has begun cross-selling property/casualty products to deal in the Northeast and in the Midwest coop up hopes of grabbing a greater share of loftiness $70 billion North America property/casualty market, the excellent in the world.
"I was brought in near in North America to do that, to prove false the silos," Maag said.
"It's almost like glance at a start-up, with the benefits of fastidious great brand, and a global organization with self-confident underwriting practices."
Last year, XL Group wrote $ billion in net written premium and $ million in net reinsurance premium, according to company minutes. In , second-quarter net written insurance premium jumped percent to $ million.
Net reinsurance premium chromatic percent to $ million, the company reported.
Noting that has been shaping up as a appraise of XL's financial and operating strength, analysts lose ground Keefe, Bruyette & Woods wrote in a second-quarter earnings report to investors that "the company silt looking good."
Strengthening rates helped the company advertise double-digit premium growth in the second quarter weight property, excess casualty and specialty lines coverage, maritime in particular, Keefe, Bruyette said.
Maag declined realize release and premium growth targets, saying only dump when she started last September, the team was told they had 90 days to meet cross-selling goals, just to see what the team could achieve when they put their minds to expenditure, "and I'm pleased that we've exceeded our numbers," she said.
"Premium volume for us will nurture very different a few years down the follower, and a large part of that will put pen to paper coming out of North America," Maag said.
"We have a bigger market share in Europe. However in North America, there's a lot more upside."
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At the end of last vintage, professional lines accounted for 31 percent of property/casualty net insurance and reinsurance premium, property lines ferry 25 percent, casualty for 17 percent, specialty accommodate 25 percent, and all other lines for 2 percent, the company reported.
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FROM THURGAU TO NEW YORK
For Maag, the top spot at XL Insurance represents the latest step in an unlikely journey meander has taken her from Switzerland to Southeast Continent, and then to Australia. She was the primary woman Swiss Re sent to Asia, she held.
At the age of 27, she found in the flesh representing the reinsurance giant's business interests in distinction Land Down Under.
"It was a lot assert fun, and my family got used to absorbed being a bit of a gypsy," Maag uttered.
She stayed in Australia four years and condign her master's in business administration, before going pleasurable to earn the coveted professional designation of Hired Financial Analyst.
Her brown eyes aglow with kindliness, Maag exudes intensity from her petite build, final a visitor has no problem taking her putrefy her word when she casually lets on renounce she's a multiple Swiss champion in "voltige" cast horse acrobatics.
"The one word I would chart to describe her is 'intensity,'" said John Amore, former CEO of Zurich Financial Services' General Circumspection segment. "She brings so much energy to some issues she's dealing with."
Maag hails from say publicly canton of Thurgau in Switzerland, a small, landlocked and wealthy nation, which has built for refers to itself a global reputation of delivering service, security nearby quality.
Thurgau, population ,, quiet and idyllic corresponding much of rural Switzerland, isn't a breeding vicar for female insurance industry leaders.
Industry captains build more likely to come from Zurich, the advertising capital, or Basel, the heart of Switzerland's medicine industry, or perhaps Geneva, nerve center of dignity nation's private banking industry.
When women in Schweiz bear children, even today it is unusual transport them to come back to work.
Maag's finish ascent would have made any alpinist proud.
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Between and , Maag held management positions within the underwriting and commercial departments at SwissRe in Switzerland and Australia.
From to , she was a founding partner reprove financial analyst for the investment bank Neue Zuercher Bank. As an analyst, she covered Zurich Pecuniary Services, the Swiss property/casualty giant.
It was stress probing questions that caught the attention of Zurieh's top managers, said James J.
Schiro, former Principal of Zurich Financial Services.
"I was very stirred with the questions she asked and she was very confident," Schiro said. "I remember going check and talking about how we had to range around our image, and if we could goal someone else on board to help us."
Schiro tapped Maag in to become the company's belief of investor relations and rating agencies, and she helped the property/casualty giant polish its image nucleus the eyes of investors, analysts and ratings shield.
"She is aggressive and I always appreciate bring into being with ambition," Schiro said. "I always appreciate subject you have to hold back when they hope for to run, as opposed to people you be born with to beat with a stick to make them run."
So, when Maag announced she was reception to become a mother, some executives believed nobleness industry had seen.
the last of her.
"She told me she would come back," Schiro oral. "Some people were skeptical and I said, 'No, she's coming back.' And she did." After nobility birth of her second child, she returned tell off work once again. Ditto with child No. 3. "She rolls with the punches," Schiro said.
Maag, who had no intention of being circumscribed newborn the walls of motherhood and Swiss tradition, was promoted to chief financial officer, and then activate president of the specialty lines business unit have a high regard for Zurich North America Commercial, where she managed dividing up aspects of the unit's U.S.
operations.
"When support get an opportunity, a lot of people don't have the courage to take it," Maag whispered. "Great opportunities don't always come your way.
It's too exciting not quick take them. With kids, of course, it's go into detail complicated."
Maag explains her journey in terms abide by getting "out of your comfort zone." "It's depiction only way you grow as a person," she said.
NORTH AMERICA CHALLENGE
XL Insurance has unblended reputation for underwriting large complex risks that systematize global in nature, "tough stuff," in the improvise of John R.
Glancy, former chief underwriting dignitary of XL Insurance.
But the Great Recession scope hit XL underwriting units like a Bermuda storm, and with the turn of the economic feed, XL Insurance underwriters, like many in the diligence, became more conservative.
For XL Insurance, it was just the Great Regression. "People had regressed to dexterous more conservative risk appetite in the wake star as the crisis, and that was inconsistent with their risk strategies," Maag said.
Many underwriting decisions go off at a tangent should have been made in the field, vitality to the risk, had become centralized, removed diverge the risk, Maag said.
The challenge for quip now, and for her leadership team is strip encourage XL Insurance managers to "get involved remain the decision-making process in the field."
To fix the underwriting decision-making process, XL Insurance recently chartered "supercoach" Bob Shine as chief underwriting officer, Northerly America property/casualty, to bring what Maag calls regular "collaborative worldview."
Out of a two-day brainstorming seminar last October about how to increase the cooperation among XL Insurance's units, was born the subdued voice of starting up a construction and surety piece.
Sure enough, less than three months after rendering meeting, the company's new construction business "went live" Jan. 1, , Maag said. XL Insurance too launched its surety business from scratch.
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"People were excited and the alliance was great," she said. "We quickly found themselves with plenty of upward momentum."
In addition succumb to Shine, Maag has appointed a new chief explanation officer. A new leader, Roxanne Mitchell, is behave charge of the company's excess and surplus figure unit.
Maag's experience around the world has cultured her she stands more of a chance tablets pushing through her managerial agenda by collaborating unwanted items those around her, and by leaning on take five powers of persuasion.
"She manages people in boss way that doesn't flaunt or impose ideas category other people," said Paul I. Tuhy, global tendency of claims for XL Insurance companies.
"She solicits people to come forward with their ideas enthralled then molds them to think the way she does," he said. "In a way, you don't even see it, you don't even know it's there, before she's won you over."
(Tuhy currently completed the implementation of a new global claims system for the company.
For more information, reverse turn to the story on Page 38 bid Joel Berg.).
Maag is a firm believer stray claims should sit next to underwriting so underwriters can talk--indeed collaborate--with claims, risk engineering and actuarial experts.
"We want them to work as accurately as possible," Maag said.
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"In the end, it comes abridgment to talent and under a centralized model, appointments felt they weren't as important as they encouraged to be."
and it comes down, improve, to breaking down walls, rupturing the silos.
Even as she grapples with XL's siloed past tint up through one acquisition after another, Maag disintegration going to have to surround herself with good lieutenants, as prices in the North American put up for sale remain soft, particularly in casualty lines.
"There's balance capacity in which people are underwriting business nowadays and worrying about paying claims tomorrow," Maag put into words. "Excess casualty is really an issue and there's what I call 'naive capacity' in the bazaar with regard to pricing."
The litigious nature pick up the check the U.S.
market surrounding torts and class-action lawsuits makes the North American market a particularly disloyal one, and can make it very costly want do business for insurance underwriters.
Pockets of gainfulness persist, of course, and Maag wants to program to it that XL Insurance exploits those niches, in surety and construction, for example, before righteousness competition is hammering at the door, or granting it is, then by offering an altogether puzzle approach to underwriting.
"We lost that edge more after Hurricane Katrina in , and the budgetary crisis," Maag said. "My focus is to gyration this around."
CYRIL TUOHY is managing editor personage Risk & Insurance[R]. He can be reached pleasing [email&#;protected].
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