Todd provides over three decades proven success in the insurance and financial services industries with a focus on executive leadership and strategic transactions in the catastrophe-driven insurance, reinsurance, and insurance linked-securities industries. As the former CEO of Narragansett Bay Insurance Company, he spearheaded the company’s reorganization and post-Superstorm Sandy recapitalization.

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Todd has held numerous executive leadership roles including serving as the CEO of the Glacier Group, where he led the company’s strategic reorganization and operational management. He also held leadership roles for HBK Capital Management, focusing on investments in insurance-related public securities, private equity to include E&S carrier Rockhill Holdings, and collateralized reinsurance. Todd earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, and his AB in Economics with Highest Honors from the University of North Carolina, where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar.

Jim brings over twenty years of underwriting and reinsurance experience implementing his people-first approach to building successful underwriting teams.

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Most recently, Jim served as a Senior Managing Director at Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions Division. For over a decade, he held multiple executive leadership roles at Hallmark Financial Services serving primarily as the President of Hallmark E&S and Chairman of the Group Underwriting Committee. He also held underwriting leadership roles in Primary & Excess Casualty, Professional Liability, Aviation, and Programs. Prior to that, Jim helped build the underwriting portfolio and operations as Vice President of Underwriting, and Executive Vice President of the Health XS, LLC. Jim is an active participant and committee member in multiple surplus lines organizations including the Texas Surplus Lines Association and Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association and maintains licensing in all U.S. jurisdictions.

Mark has over four decades of experience in the P&C insurance sector, which has given him a deep understanding of successful business strategies. As the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hallmark Financial Services for over ten years, his leadership was instrumental in transforming the company from a single state, monoline carrier into a diversified, nationwide specialty insurance company.

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Mark’s other leadership roles include serving as President of Associates Insurance Group and holding senior financial leadership roles at American Eagle Insurance Group, Republic Insurance Group, and Anthem Insurance. He began his career at Ernst & Young LLP as a Senior Manager, focusing on P&C and health insurance clients.

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Mark holds a CPA certification from the State of Indiana and a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University (Bloomington).

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Mark Jones is an actuarial, analytics, and strategy leader with over 25 years of experience in P&C-focused carrier commercial and specialty operations. Mark brings a deep knowledge of leading industry practices in product management, pricing, reserving, insurance applications of advanced analytics (AI/ML), regulatory compliance, financial reporting as well as claims, underwriting, and marketing.

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Mark most recently served as Director for PWC as a leader of advanced analytics insurance projects. He previously held executive actuary roles with Hallmark Financial Services, Perr & Knight, WR Berkley, Guy Carpenter, and Fairfax. Mark has been an active public speaker giving multiple presentations to the industry most recently focusing on applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to insurance underwriting and claims. He is a co-author of the CAS Monograph on P&C Data Quality. Mark holds a Master of Arts in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Science in Math/Physics from the University of Texas, Austin.

Rich Smith brings over 26 years of experience in property and casualty claims operations primarily focusing on multi-line business and commercial trucking accounts.

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Rich most recently held the position of senior vice president and CCO for multi-line business products at Vela Insurance Services. He also served in claims leadership roles with Hiscox and AIG, where he focused on commercial general liability and commercial trucking accounts. He has an advanced degree from the University of Georgia and is based out of Atlanta, Georgia.

Kate brings over twenty years of experience in underwriting, operations, risk management, and product team leadership. She brings a wealth of expertise, insight, and perspective to the underwriting teams and has successfully launched and managed multiple products and programs for various risk segments.

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Most recently, Kate served as the Chief Underwriting Officer at Indigo Specialty Underwriters, which she also founded. She also held underwriting leadership roles at DUAL North America as well as served over 18 years at AXA XL. Kate is an ardent supporter of fostering a culture of collaboration and excellence among Upland’s underwriters as well as advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives within the company and the P&C insurance industry. She holds a degree from the University of Connecticut.  

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