Executive Committee Profiles

Christopher O'Kane

Chris O'Kane is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited.  The company was formed in 2002 and had its initial public offering in 2003, listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, ticker 'AHL'.
Prior to creating Aspen Chris was with Wellington Underwriting plc (now part of Catlin) from 1993 to 2002.  During his tenure at Wellington, Chris held a number of roles including serving as a director and Chief Underwriting Officer, and as an underwriting partner of Lloyd's Syndicate 2020.  Chris began his career in the insurance industry as a Lloyd's broker in 1979. Chris, a native of Ireland, lives in London with his wife and three children.  He is an avid skier and collector of contemporary art.

Julian Cusack, Ph.D

Mr. Cusack became Chief Operating Officer on April 17, 2008 and was appointed Chairman of Aspen Insurance Limited ('Aspen Bermuda') on November 2, 2006. He has been a Director of Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited since June 21, 2002, and he continues to chair the Company's Reserving Committee. He previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited from the Company's foundation in 2002 until April 30, 2007. He has been the Chief Executive Officer of Aspen Bermuda since 2002, and from 2002 until March 31, 2004, he was also Finance Director of Aspen Insurance UK Limited ('Aspen Re'). Mr. Cusack previously worked with Wellington where he was Managing Director of Wellington Underwriting Agencies Limited from 1992 to 1996, and in 1994 joined the board of directors of Wellington Underwriting Holdings Limited. He was Group Finance Director of Wellington from 1996 to 2002.

Richard Houghton

Mr. Houghton joined us as our Chief Financial Officer on April 30, 2007 and has been a director since May 2, 2007. He was previously at Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc ("RBS"), where he was Chief Operating Officer, RBS Insurance since 2005 responsible for driving operational efficiency across the finance, IT, risk, HR, claims and actuarial functions of this division. Previously, he was Group Finance Director RBS Insurance. Mr. Houghton was also Group Finance Director of Ulster Bank, another subsidiary of RBS. He began his professional career as an accountant at Deloitte & Touche where he spent 10 years working in audit, corporate finance and corporate recovery. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Brian Boornazian

Mr. Boornazian was appointed Head of Reinsurance in May 2006. Since October 2005, Mr. Boornazian has also served as President of Aspen Re America. From January 2004 to October 2005, he was president of Aspen Re America, Property Reinsurance. Prior to joining us, from 1999 to January 2004, Mr. Boornazian was at XL Re America, where during his tenure there he acted in several capacities and was Senior Vice President, Chief Property Officer, responsible for property facultative and treaty, as well as marine, and Chief Marketing Officer.

Michael Cain

Michael Cain joined Aspen as Group General Counsel and Company Secretary in March 2008. Michael was previously at Benfield, where he served in a number of roles including Corporate Counsel, Head of Company Secretariat and General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer to Benfield Advisory. He joined Benfield from the law firm Ashurst, and was previously at Barlow Lyde and Gilbert, where he started his career. Michael holds a Law degree from the University of Reading, and a Masters in Law from the University of Bristol.

James Few

Mr. Few has been our Head of Property Reinsurance since June 1, 2004 and Aspen Bermuda's Chief Underwriting Officer since November 1, 2004. Before joining Aspen Bermuda, he had been an underwriter at Aspen Re since June 21, 2002. Mr. Few previously worked as an underwriter with Wellington from 1999 until 2002 and from 1993 until 1999 was an underwriter and client development manager at Royal & Sun Alliance.

Karen Green

Ms. Green joined us in March 2005 as Head of Strategy. From 2001 until 2005, Ms. Green was a Principal with MMC Capital Inc. (now Stone Point Capital), a global private equity firm (formerly owned by Marsh and McLennan Companies Inc.). Prior to MMC Capital, Ms. Green was a director at GE Capital in London from 1997 to 2001, where she co-ran the Business Development team (responsible for mergers and acquisitions for GE Capital in Europe).

Emil Issavi

Mr. Issavi was appointed Head of Casualty Reinsurance in July 2008. Since July 2006, Mr. Issavi has also served as Head of Casualty Treaty of Aspen Re America. Prior to joining us, from 2002 to July 2006, Mr. Issavi was at Swiss Reinsurance America, where during his tenure there he was Senior Treaty Account Executive responsible for various Global and National Property Casualty clients.   Mr. Issavi began his reinsurance career at Gen Re as a Casualty Facultative underwriter.

Oliver Peterken

Mr. Peterken has served as our Chief Risk Officer since May 9, 2005. Prior to joining us, Mr. Peterken led Willis Re's international catastrophe risk modelling and actuarial services from 1995, during which time he was Managing Director of Willis Consulting Limited from 1998 to 2005. From 1987 to 1994 he held various management roles in finance and strategy at the Prudential Corporation Plc.

 

Chris Woodman

Since July 2005, Mr. Woodman has served as Head of Human Resources. Prior to joining us, he was employed by Fidelity International from March 1995 to March 2005. He joined them as a Human Resources Manager, and was subsequently Human Resources Director, Research and Trading on secondment to Fidelity Management and Research Company in Boston, MA. He then returned to the United Kingdom as Director, Human Resources for the Investment and Institutional business at Fidelity International. Most recently, he was Managing Director, Human Resources, COLT Telecom from January 2003 to February 2005 on secondment from Fidelity International.

Kate Vacher

Ms.Vacher is our Underwriting Director. Previously, she was our Head of Group Planning from April 2003 to May 2006 and Property Reinsurance Underwriter since joining Aspen Re on September 1, 2002. Ms. Vacher joined Aspen Bermuda on December 1, 2004. Ms. Vacher previously worked as an underwriter with Wellington Syndicate 2020 from 1999 until 2002 and from 1995 until 1999 was an assistant underwriter at Syndicate 51.

 

Nathan Warde

Nathan Warde was appointed President of Aspen Insurance US in April 2007. He is responsible for leading the Company's insurance operations in the US and the strategic development of Aspen's Excess and Surplus lines business.  Nathan was previously Executive Vice President of Worldwide Property at Arch Capital Group Ltd.  Prior to joining Arch in 2002, Nathan worked with Royal Specialty Underwriting Inc (RSUI), NRG America and Hartford Insurance Group.