ACE invests in property risk engineering capability for clients in Eurasia and Africa

ACE today announced the promotion of Andrey Sedov to the newly created position of Head of Property Risk Engineering for Eurasia and Africa, as it continues to build its risk management capability for clients across its newest regional business and around the world.

Currently Property Risk Engineer for Russia and Turkey, Andrey will be responsible in his new role for managing ACE’s team of property risk engineers based in the region and providing support and guidance to ACE Arabia, the company’s joint venture in Saudi Arabia. Under his leadership, the team will provide coordinated, dedicated and responsive support to property underwriters across the region. He will work closely with the company’s global risk engineering network to ensure the sharing of best practice and insight across the Group and the delivery of added-value risk management services to brokers and clients locally.

Andrey will continue to be based in Moscow and he will report to Vadim Bulanov, Underwriting Manager for Property in Russia, and to Rai Navakas, Global Head of Property Risk Engineering. The appointment is effective 1 April.

Andrey has more than eight years of experience in the insurance industry. He joined ACE in Moscow in September 2012 where he has since been responsible for property risk engineering for the region, including performing risk assessments on behalf of a large variety of clients with large production facilities and the production of survey reports for underwriters, brokers and cedants.

Previously, Andrey worked for six years at Zurich Insurance Group, latterly as Risk Engineering Manager for Russia. He has also spent eight years in industry as a head of production in the biotechnology sector and as a product engineer in the food and chemical sectors. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Engineering from the Moscow State University of Engineering Ecology.

Rai Navakas, Global Head of Property Risk Engineering at ACE Group, said:

“Having one cohesive property risk engineering team will greatly benefit our underwriters and our clients in Eurasia and Africa. Andrey’s extensive industry experience and technical expertise equip him strongly for his new role and I look forward to working with him.”

Giles Ward, Regional President for Eurasia and Africa at ACE Group, said:

“This latest management appointment for our Eurasia and Africa region underlines our commitment to excellent underwriting and superior customer service. As the business environment evolves and risk management needs grow increasingly sophisticated, Andrey will help to ensure we align our risk engineering capabilities to meet changing client needs.”

John Nienaber, Country President for South Africa at ACE Group, said:

“Companies in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa are facing an increasingly complex matrix of traditional and emerging risks. To face those risks, they are demanding more comprehensive insurance solutions. Working with our local risk engineers, Andrey will further enable us anticipate our clients’ evolving insurance and risk management needs and he will be invaluable in driving the sharing of best practices – not only across our region, but across the ACE global network.”