Specialty Insurer Ansvar Announces Two New Senior Appointments

Ansvar Insurance today announced the appointment of two newly created roles. John Leavey has been appointed to the new position of National Manager for Northern Strategic Partners. Hannah Sparkes also joins Ansvar in a newly created position, as Business Development Underwriter for SA & NT. Further assignments include Darren Fennessy assuming the position of Casualty Portfolio Manager and Rani Edwards joining the team in NSW as Business Development Underwriting Manager.

Leavey will be responsible for achieving significant growth of the Northern region portfolio across Ansvar’s key sectors. This includes identifying new opportunities and working with the team of experienced underwriters to find solutions for broking partners and clients as well as expanding Ansvar’s offerings to emerging sectors.

Prior to joining Ansvar, Leavey was General Manager NSW for Whitebread Insurance Brokers where he previously held the position of General Manager, Broking. Leavey also spent four years as National Relationship Manager – Key Accounts at CGU Insurance.

“I am excited to join Ansvar and bring my partnership experience to help grow existing broker relationships as well as build new partnerships at both the strategic and operational level,” said Leavey.

The new Business Development Underwriter SA & NT position, filled by Sparkes, will focus on strengthening Ansvar’s relationships in these markets and ensure continued profitable growth across Ansvar’s portfolio.

Prior to assuming this role, Sparkes held several Marine Underwriter positions at AIG Australia and QBE, most recently serving as Senior Marine Underwriter at Chubb.

“South Australia and the Northern Territory provide great opportunities for Ansvar, I am thrilled to be in a position to develop new and build on existing customer relationships by providing innovative underwriting solutions in  these markets,” said Sparkes.

“We have created these positions in recognition of the growth opportunities for Ansvar in these markets. John and Hannah bring a wealth of experience to our teams which will provide a huge benefit for Ansvar clients,” said Ian Ireland, General Manager – Business Development, Ansvar Insurance.

In other appointments, Darren Fennessy joins Ansvar as Casualty Portfolio Manager, where he will be responsible for providing technical underwriting support to all relevant stakeholders as well as aligning risk and compliance management to practices within the Casualty portfolio.

Fennessy brings a wealth of experience to the role having held several senior management positions prior to joining Ansvar including Australian Liability Manager at Arch Insurance, Senior Leader Casualty at Suncorp, National Manager Liability Vero Corporate & National Liability Underwriter at SRS Underwriting Agency.

Rani Edwards assumes the role of Business Development Underwriting Manager for NSW, where she will help drive performance and sales success for the NSW branch. She will also be responsible for growing and developing existing clients as well as generating new underwriting business.

Edwards previously held the position of Business Development Manager at Lumley Insurance, where she managed a significant portfolio of business, with a strong emphasis on profitable new business growth.