Underwriting Leadership Appointments for North

With effect from the 1 June 2019, Thya Kathiravel has taken up the position of Chief Underwriting Officer for North and Sunderland Marine based in Newcastle. At the same time, Thya’s predecessor in the role, Savraj Mehta, has been appointed to the role of Chief Commercial Officer, a new position which will operate from North’s London office and one which enables a more dedicated emphasis on the continuing delivery of North’s commercial strategy. Savraj will, of course, continue to work closely with our underwriters who look after our Members in Greece, the Middle East, India and also Europe.

As Chief Underwriting Officer, Thya will oversee the continued success of the mutual P&I book but will also bring additional focus to the development of fixed premium product lines under the Sunderland Marine brand. Assisting Thya will be Steve Rebair and Simon Main, both recently appointed as Deputy Global Directors (Underwriting).

North has already seen the benefits of its diversification strategy as a result of the merger with Sunderland Marine, which is now writing profitable business in the fishing boat hull and aquaculture sectors. With the launch of a new Fixed Premium P&I product earlier this month, Brian Davies has been appointed to the position of Director (London) and will be responsible to Thya for the successful development of this facility over the coming years.

On the mutual side of the business, a series of appointments have been made to bolster the service offering across all our regional teams. Firstly, Emma Liddell and Mike Hustler are both appointed as Director (Underwriting) to oversee the Club’s business interests in the Asia Pacific region, which currently provides 35% of North’s entered tonnage. Emma joined North in 1994 and spent several years handling P&I claims – including two years in the Hong Kong office and a further year in the Greek office – before joining the underwriting department in the UK. Emma will continue to be based in Newcastle and will coordinate the management of our Asia Pacific accounts with Mike, concentrating primarily on relationships with the broker community.

Mike has recently relocated to North’s Singapore office, where he previously worked for two years following a spell in North’s FD&D department. Mike will be establishing North’s regional underwriting authority from that office and, at the same time, will be supported in Asia Pacific by Sumito Dosaka, who has now been appointed to the role of Senior Executive (Marketing) at the Club’s Japan Branch. Before joining North, Sumito worked primarily as an underwriter at another P&I Club in Japan for 23 years.

Secondly, Sanchit Dutta is also appointed as a Director (Underwriting) and is tasked as lead underwriter with continuing to build the Club’s presence in the Middle East and Indian regions. These are markets which represent 10% of the Club’s entered tonnage, and Sanchit will continue to be supported in our growth plans by Savraj and his many years of close relationships in these regions. Sanchit is a Master Mariner with service on various vessel types including gas ships and joined the underwriting department in 2009 after working for many years in North’s claims department.

For our Greek Membership which now makes up 20% of the Club, Phil Eccleston has been appointed as Director (Underwriting) and will be based in Newcastle. Phil has experience of our Greek office, having worked in the claims team back in 2008 before joining underwriting, and will also be assisted by senior-level commercial support from Savraj. Gordon Robertson will be carrying out the ever-present liaison role with Members and brokers in the market, and Phil will additionally be supported by Gary Henderson, Dean Costello and Tom McLoughlin.

Finally, we are pleased to confirm that Nick Wolfe will be joining the North underwriting team. Nick has been working for a major broker and has been based in Singapore for several years; he will be focusing on special projects and helping to build the fixed premium side of our business when he comes to Newcastle sometime in the New Year.

ENDS

For further information contact: Kim Rogerson on +44 191 232 5221 / kim.rogerson@nepia.com or Nick Arthur on +44 1865 514214 / nick.arthur@blue-comms.com

North P&I Club

North P&I Club is a leading global marine insurer providing P&I, FD&D, war risks and ancillary cover to over 200 million GT of owned and chartered tonnage. Through its guaranteed subsidiary Sunderland Marine, North is also a leading insurer of fishing vessels, small craft and aquaculture risks. The Standard and Poor’s ‘A’ rated Club is based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK with regional offices and subsidiaries in China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), Greece, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, USA and Sunderland Marine offices worldwide. North is a leading member of the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG), with over 12% of the IG’s owned tonnage. The 13 IG clubs provide liability cover for approximately 90% of the world’s ocean-going tonnage and, as a member of the IG, North protects and promotes the interests of the international shipping industry. For further information, visit: www.nepia.com

Sunderland Marine

Sunderland Marine provides market-leading fixed premium insurance, with cover and wordings tailored to the needs of individual operators and backed by people with long and successful experience of providing unrivalled service to their customers. Sunderland Marine insurance products are underwritten by North P&I. For further information, visit www.sunderlandmarine.com.