Leadership

Paul Jardine, Independent Non-Executive Director and Chairman, joined the Board of Chaucer in 2020. He is also the Chairman of the Remuneration & Nominations Committee and a member of the Risk & Capital and the Audit Committees.

Paul is a renowned insurance business leader, with unparalleled London Market and Lloyd’s senior level experience. He has held a number of executive roles at AXA XL, after serving as Director & Chief Actuary at Equitas. Prior to this, he was a partner at Coopers & Lybrand.

Lesley Watkins, Independent Non-Executive Director, joined the Chaucer Board in January 2020, and she is also a member of Chaucer Insurance Company’s board.

Lesley has a career spanning over 20 years in financial services and is a trusted business adviser with extensive senior level board experience and in-depth knowledge of the UK corporate finance arena.

She is currently a Non-Executive Director at Investec Bank plc and Great Lakes Insurance UK Limited, and was formerly a Non-Executive Director of Braemar Shipping Services plc, Game Digital plc and Panmure Gordon & Co plc. As well as previously also a non-executive Council Member and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Competition Commission.

Jerome Faure is an Independent Non-Executive Director who joined the Board of Chaucer in 2017; he is also a member of Chaucer Insurance Company's board.

He is a highly regarded global business leader with a successful track record in insurance and reinsurance.

Jerome has held a number of high profile industry positions, he began his career at SCOR in Paris and over a 16-year period went on to lead their offices in Tokyo, London and New York. Subsequently Jerome has served as Chief Underwriting Officer of Tokio Millennium Re, Bermuda, as Partner of ILS Capital Management, Bermuda, and most recently, Chief Executive Officer of Global Reinsurance at Endurance Specialty, Bermuda. 

Andrew Pearce is an Independent Non-Executive Director, who joined the Board of Chaucer in May 2023. He is a member of the Audit Committee, Risk and Capital Committee and Remuneration and Nominations Committee.

Andrew is a recognised business leader with extensive experience in advising senior management on strategically important projects. He previously served as Managing Director at Accenture, and has extensive experience in application development and delivery across the Telco, Finance, Defence and Government sectors. Andrew served in the RAF for sixteen years as an officer, his final posting was as Deputy Head of IT / CIS Services at the Joint Services Command and Staff College.

Andrew has been recognised as a global minority ethnic role model by Green Park, featuring in their top 100 BAME leaders in Business 2018 and as one of the UK’s Top 30 most influential leaders of African, Caribbean or African American heritage working within legal, financial and professional services.

Enda Murphy is an Independent Non-Executive Director who joined the Board of Chaucer Insurance Company in 2018.

He has a long and experienced career in the insurance industry. He began his career in finance in the direct life insurance business and then moved to the reinsurance industry where he gained experience of both life and non-life reinsurance. Enda held a number of executive roles at Reinsurance Group of America where he was successively Managing Director of the UK Subsidiary, the European subsidiary based in Ireland, and later COO of Global Operations.

Enda Studied at Trinity College Dublin where he became a Bachelor of Business Studies. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Hongyan Wang is a Non-Executive Director who joined the Board of Chaucer in 2025.

Hongyan has over 20 years' experience in the reinsurance industry. He joined China Re in 2004 as a graduate in the finance and reporting. He has extensive experience in the management of capital and solvency for insurance companies and the implementation of IFRS17. In 2023, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer of China Property & Casualty Reinsurance Company Limited. He is responsible for the finance, investment, actuarial, claims and IT departments in China Re P&C. From 2022 to 2023, he worked at Chaucer as Deputy CFO of the Chaucer Group.

Hongyan has a PhD in Accounting and is a qualified chartered accountant.

Yin Hang joined Chaucer Board in July 2025 as a Group Non-Executive Director and is also a member of Chaucer Insurance Company’s board. He started his career in the reinsurance industry in 1996 and became the head of the international business unit of China Re in late 2003. Later he took the role of Deputy Active Underwriting of China Re Syndicate 2088 in 2015. In 2017 he joined Taiping Reinsurance Company Ltd. in Hong Kong as Deputy General Manager. He moved back to China Re in 2024, appointed as the Deputy General Manager of China Property & Casualty Reinsurance Company Limited, a core subsidiary of the Group specializing in property and casualty business. He has an MBA degree from the Business School of Cranfield University and a qualification of ACII.

Kelan was appointed Active Underwriter for Syndicate 1084 in January 2022 and is responsible for the strategic development of the syndicate as well as leading the Marine, Energy, and Aviation divisions. Kelan has over 30 years experience, joining Chaucer in 2015 to assume leadership of the Energy division. In 2019 he took on the additional responsibility of leading the Marine and Aviation divisions. Prior to joining Chaucer, he gained extensive experience working for both major brokers and (re)insurers, including almost a decade with Arch Insurance leading their Offshore and then Global Energy operations. Prior to Arch, he underwrote upstream energy with AIG both in London and Singapore. He is ACII qualified.

Michael has more than 40 years’ experience in the insurance industry, having started his career at Lloyd’s in 1979. He joined Cox Insurance in 1986 where he was the Chief Executive from 1995 to 2002. In 1991, Michael formed and became the underwriter of Cox’s and subsequently Chaucer’s specialist nuclear syndicate 1176 and was later appointed to the board of the company in 1994. He is a director of Pool Reinsurance (Nuclear) Limited and is deputy chairman of the Management Committee of the Nuclear Risk Insurers Ltd (NRI). Since 2016 Michael holds a non-executive role to the holdings board of Lancashire. He has served on the council of Lloyd's from 1998-2001 and on the Lloyd’s market board from 1998 to 2002.

Chaucer appointed Xamira as Head of Insurance in October 2021. Xamira is responsible for the delivery of strategy and portfolio management across all general insurance lines and underwriting entities. Xamira is a multilingual, qualified lawyer, with over 25 years of experience in the insurance market. She joined Chaucer from AXA XL, where she previously served as Global Head of Title Insurance. Prior to that, she was Managing Director of Catlin South America, based in Bogotá. She has also worked for Willis and Cooper Gay Steel in New York.

Paul joined Chaucer in 2012 and is responsible for the delivery of strategy and portfolio management across all Non-Marine Insurance Lines. Paul’s remit includes the strategic leadership of the Casualty, Property, Accident & Health and Political Lines teams. Prior to this Paul held the role of Casualty and Political Lines Manager as well as 6 years working in Underwriting Risk Management, including leading the department as Head of Underwriting Risk Management. As Head of Non-Marine Insurance Paul is responsible for the strategy, business planning, performance, portfolio management and team management. Paul has over 20 years of insurance experience, having previously worked at Beazley, Markel and Aon. Paul is a member of the Syndicate’s Underwriting Committee, the Catastrophe Underwriting Group and the Large Loss Committee.

David joined the Lloyd's market in 1989 and Chaucer in 1990, working both in underwriting and claims. David became Claims Adjuster for Syndicate 1084 in 1993 and was appointed Deputy Claims Manager in 2003 for the Marine and Aviation Divisions. David was appointed Global Head of Claims in January, 2026.

Jonathan was appointed General Manager of Chaucer Insurance Company DAC in March 2021 in addition to his role as Head of Underwriting.  He is responsible for the management and strategic development of Chaucer's Insurance Company in Ireland.  Prior to this he was Active Underwriter of China Re Syndicate 2088.  Jonathan also worked at XL Catlin in Bermuda for over 10 years as Head of Casualty. In 2000 Jonathan was one of three founding members of QBE Syndicate 2000, a £25m Casualty Treaty syndicate that grew to be a £200m multi-line P&C syndicate. Prior to this Jonathan worked at Zurich Re and CNA Re in London.

Les Loh is a senior reinsurance executive with nearly 30 years of experience leading growth, underwriting excellence, and regional strategy across Asia Pacific. He was Chief Executive Officer for Southeast Asia & Korea at Guy Carpenter & Company Ltd, where he oversees the broking platform and has delivered sustained double-digit revenue growth across the treaty portfolio. Prior to this, he was President of APAC at AXIS Re, holding full P&L and regulatory responsibility for the Singapore entity while shaping regional underwriting strategy, profitability, and talent development as a member of the global Reinsurance Leadership Team. Earlier in his career, he held senior underwriting and broking roles at Benfield Asia, Korean Re, and Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance, building deep expertise across property and catastrophe treaty business. He is recognized for his end-to-end understanding of reinsurance markets, disciplined portfolio management, and inclusive leadership across diverse Asia Pacific markets.

James leads Chaucer's Bermuda office as well as being Head of the North American Property Treaty Team. He began his career at CNA Re in 1999 and joined Chaucer in 2001. James underwrites catastrophe and risk XL, proportional and retrocession business.

Fawzi is the Senior Executive Officer of our Dubai office, with responsibility for delivering bespoke risk solutions and service expertise to clients in the Middle East and North Africa. Since joining Chaucer in February 2015, Fawzi has directed development of our underwriting in the MENA region and managed the establishment of our regional office in Dubai.

Fawzi has in-depth specialty broking and underwriting expertise gained over more than a decade in the industry, most recently as a Political Violence Underwriter at Lloyd’s with Chaucer in London.

Johnny leads Chaucer's Copenhagen office, having joined in November 2009 from Maersk Oil and Gas. He is responsible for the Scandinavian produced marine portfolio. Johnny has more than 27 years of underwriting and risk management experience and is well-respected within the European marine market, having held marine underwriting positions at Codan Insurance and Copenhagen Re. He has also worked at Codan as a Risk Manager and Maersk Oil as HSSEQ Advisor.