Joe Hughes
Significant strengthening of management team as American Club regionalises underwriting and business development activity
NEW YORK, December 6, 2013: The American P&I Club is reorganising its underwriting and business development functions into a regionalised structure comprising the Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), South and Southeast Asia, and Greater China and North Asia.
Joe Hughes, chairman and ceo of managers Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc., explains: “The more focused application of resources created by this new structure is intended further to improve service delivery to members, brokers and the club’s other business associates.
“The club is moving into a new and exciting period as it heads towards its centenary in 2017, and the prospects for further expansion are good.”
Reflecting these developments, Michael Hansen will join the management team on a full-time basis on January 1 as vice president and global business development director, having provided his services as a consultant in recent months. Well known and respected within the shipping and insurance communities, Hansen spent many years before joining SCB in various positions at AP Moller-Maersk (APMM) in Denmark, Asia, and most recently as senior vice president for risk management for APMM in North America. Thus, he brings a wealth of experience to his new role.
Another appointment is that of Jack O’Kane from the beginning of December as vice president and business development director for the Americas. He has worked both in underwriting and broking, having previously served in senior posts at AIG, Reliance National, Marsh, XL Specialty and Tower Group. O’Kane will add impetus to the club’s development of business opportunities domestically, the managers state.
J.O’Kane
Boriana Farrar will also join the New York claims team at the same time. She arrives from a premier division New York commercial law firm. There, as a partner in its maritime practice, she had responsibility for conducting a broad range of litigation, arbitration and transactional business. She has a thoroughly international background, having pursued her legal studies not only in the US but also in her native Bulgaria, the UK and the Netherlands. In addition to her native language, she is fluent in English, Russian and German.
Boriana Farrar
The American Club was founded in February 1917. In addition to its US headquarters in New York, the club is able to provide local service across all time zones, communicating in more than a dozen languages, with subsidiary offices in London, Piraeus and Shanghai and a worldwide network of correspondents.
