Markel has made a series of appointments to its casualty and risk operations, appointing Ahmed Farag as Head of Casualty and Kym Beazleigh as Head of Professional and Financial Risk (PFR) and Head of Sydney.
In September, Markel had announced it would be expanding its APAC footprint with 3 new Australian offices, to be led by industry veteran Rory Morison. The commencement of Beazleigh and Farag marks the opining of its Sydney office.
Before this appointment, Farag was Casualty Portfolio Leader for Australia and New Zealand at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. He is known as a leader with technical and strategic experience across multiple industries. He will be based in Melbourne.
Beazleigh was Senior Vice President and Underwriting Head at the Asia Pacific Professional Lines Division at Allied World. At Merkel, he will head up PFR and Sydney operations, bringing a proven track record of driving regional growth to Markel.
Markel also appointed Arné Booysen as Senior Underwriter, Professional Indemnity and will report to Beazleigh. Booysen also joins Markel from Allied Word, where he was Assistant Vice President and Underwriting Manager of the Australian Professional Lines Division.
With Beazleigh and Booysen now on board, Markel’s Sydney office will start operating.
The appointments of Farag and Beazleigh “to lead our Casualty and PFR practices is a clear and exciting signal to the Australian market that Markel intends to build a leading position over the long term,” said Rory Morison, Markel’s Managing Director, Australia.