Vice President/Chief Underwriting Officer

Farm Mutual Reinsurance Plan was established in 1959 by the Ontario Mutuals to provide efficient and effective reinsurance support to the Mutual system.

With Farm Mutual Re’s support, community-based mutual insurers can continue to provide personal service while offering the same security as a multi-national organization.

Our stability is grounded in our financial strength as well as the long-term relationships we cultivate with our partners who include reinsurers in Canada, the United States and Europe. We see tremendous value in forging deep-rooted relationships to provide stability and capacity. Everything we do is based on a long-term view.

Vision

To be the reinsurer of choice for the global mutual community and an essential part of the Canadian property and casualty industry.

For further information about Farm Mutual Reinsurance, please visit their website at https://www.farmmutualre.com/

Mandate

Reporting to the President and CEO, the Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO) is responsible for managing reinsurance (both assumed and ceded), underwriting assessment programs, member relations and business development, as well as for providing liaison between Farm Mutual Re and its business partners, including member and non-member companies, reinsurance brokers and reinsurers.

This position has a requirement for travel, particularly for member company visits and business underwritten outside of Canada.

Key Accountabilities

Planning

• Monitoring information channels to understand new issues of importance to the organization; identifying changes in the environment; engaging in high-level critical thinking to identify links and discern critical issues; encouraging alternative viewpoints; and seizing opportunities and adjusting approaches to respond to threats.
• Creating operational plans that are appropriately comprehensive, realistic, and successful in improving operational efficiency and effectiveness, and managing risk within defined areas of responsibility, or as specifically assigned.
• Creating annual budgets for capital and operating expenditures within defined areas of responsibility, or as specifically assigned.

Organizing

• Creating, implementing, maintaining, and monitoring efficient and effective policies, standards, guidelines, methodologies, processes, and procedures to achieve goals.

Motivating

• Driving a culture of achievement and accountability.

Leading and Directing

• Ensuring ideas and intended actions become reality and that planned projects and work processes result in expected outputs.

Monitoring and Controlling

• Defining a balanced set of performance objectives, measures, targets, and benchmarks, including: business contribution, performance against organizational goals and objectives, risk management, and regulatory compliance.
• Ensuring adherence to company’s risk appetite framework as well as Reinsurance Risk Management Policy

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will have the following:

Education:

• Requires a university education and a professional certification such as a CIP or FCIP.

Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years prior related experience and a minimum of 5 years leadership experience including;

Assumed direct distribution contracts

• Assumed direct distribution treaty contracts and ensured contract wordings are appropriate to coverage and consistent with company strategy, general market offerings, and the company’s ceded reinsurance contracts.
• Collaborated with Actuarial leaders to derive fair and equitable contract rates and manage insurance pricing risk.

Flow-through arrangements

• Co-ordinated coverage, terms and conditions for assumed and ceded reinsurance contracts.
• Collaborated with executive team to ensure contract coverage, terms and conditions are consistent and negotiated with the assuming reinsurer.
• Managed Issuance reinsurance contracts to members, including premium billings and premium payments and managed operational risk associated with these activities.

Assumed broker distribution reinsurance contracts

• Ensured distribution channels, geographic areas, coverage, and contract wordings are consistent with company strategy and approved risk appetite.
• Developed, recommended and lead strategy for business development including distribution, geographic spread of risk, and risk appetite.
• Ensured net exposure and concentrations are within approved risk tolerances.
• Underwritten contracts to ensure proposed market rates reasonably balance long-term expectations and actuarial technical rates.

Ceded treaty contracts

• Lead the company’s reinsurance committee and contributing to the strategy, structure, and placement of core business reinsurance protection.
• Managed reinsurance risks and operational risks associated with the placement of core-business reinsurance arrangements.

Underwriting Assessment Programs

• Developed and overseen underwriting and reinsurance audit program strategy to ensure the business achieved and maintained scale while converting audit findings into actionable plans and maintain the confidence of reinsurance partners to preserve capacity.
• Developed and overseen an efficient and effective loss control strategy.

Core Attributes:

• Steers Strategic Direction
• Drives Results
• Champions the Organization’s Culture and Core Values
• Communicates with Influence