Reinsurance Summit: Fresh Perspectives on the Reinsurance Front Speaker Profiles

Thomas B. Considine began his tenure as Acting Commissioner of the Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI) on February 8, 2010, and as Commissioner on March 24, 2010.

Since his appointment, Considine’s approach has been to work with business, to streamline the regulatory process, and to make DOBI as adept at promoting the growth and stability of its licensees as it is at protecting consumers.

Prior to his appointment, he worked at MetLife, Inc., a global financial services company, for nearly 17 years, where he served most recently as Vice President & Government Relation Counsel. In addition, he served on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations and various other financial services industry-related organizations.

Considine served as a founding appointee to the NJ Department of Banking & Insurance Financial Services Advisory Board.

Since the start of his tenure in 2010, Considine has repealed burdensome regulations, spread the pro-growth message of the Christie Administration in the banking and insurance industries, set in motion regulations to reform Personal Injury Protection (PIP), reformed government banking deposit guarantees and worked with the Legislature on bills to expand captive and reinsurance markets. He has also taken a strong approach to fighting insurance fraud.

In addition to his responsibilities as Commissioner, Considine holds leadership positions with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). He was elected to the national Executive Committee of the NAIC, and also became the Vice Chairman of the NAIC's Northeast Zone.

Considine received his J.D. cum laude from the Seton Hall University School of Law and his B.S. magna cum laude from the W. Paul Stillman School of Business Administration at Seton Hall University.

Ed Lenci, a partner with Hinshaw & Culbertson’s New York City office, has over twenty years’ experience in the litigation and arbitration of business disputes. He is particularly well-known for his work in the area of reinsurance dispute resolution. He has “scored a hat trick” by winning the rare remedy of rescission of a reinsurance contract on three separate occasions – once in a jury trial, once in an arbitration, and once from the bench. He has collected millions of dollars for cedents from reinsurers located in Central and South America, Europe and the Far East. His notable victories include the following: Amerisure Mutual Ins. Co., et al. v. GLOBAL Reins. Corp. of America, 927 N.E.2d 740 (Ill. App. 2010) (vacating an arbitral award); Mutual Marine Offices, Inc., et al. v. Banco de Seguros del Estado, 344 F.3d 255 (2d Cir. 2003) (sovereign immunity does not apply in private arbitrations); Gerling Global Reins. Corp. – U.S. Branch v. ACE Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., 2002 U.S. App. Lexis 15571 (2d Cir. 2002) (reinsurer not required to arbitrate its rescission claim because the arbitration clause did not encompass such a claim); Curiale v. AIG Multi-Line Synd., Inc., et al., 640 N.Y.S.2d 18 (N.Y. App. 1996) (reinsurer entitled to rescission); National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa v. Clearwater Ins. Co., 2007 WL 2106098, (S.D.N.Y. 2007) (“follow the fortunes” did not require a reinsurer to cover ECO). Ed is a co-chair of the Insurance and Reinsurance Committee of the New York State Bar Association’s International Section and is a charter member of the editorial board of HarrisMartin’s Reinsurance.

Ed’s full professional biography can be found here.

Leslie Davis is a Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of General Reinsurance Corporation, located in Stamford, Connecticut. She is also a Senior Vice President, Secretary and the General Counsel of United States Aviation Underwriters, Inc., a General Re affiliate and manager of the United States Aircraft Insurance Group, located in New York, New York. As a member of the General Re legal department, Leslie specializes in insurance and reinsurance litigation, arbitration and contract matters. As the General Counsel of USAU she is responsible for the legal and regulatory affairs of USAU and USAIG. Prior to joining General Re Leslie was a litigation associate at Shearman & Sterling, New York, New York.

Wendy R. Taylor is an attorney admitted in New York and New Jersey as well as an English barrister and a member of Lincoln's Inn, London, England. She has worked in the insurance and reinsurance industry for over 19 years. She is a Vice President & Associate Counsel in the General Counsel's department of Chubb & Son in New Jersey where she is responsible for providing legal advice on a worldwide basis to the member insurers of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. Her role with Chubb has a very broad scope as it encompasses reinsurance claims including arbitrations and litigation, reinsurance contract wording, underwriting, securitized transactions (such as catastrophe bonds), collateral and regulatory issues.

Prior to Chubb, she was an in-house lawyer in New York with an insurance company that was in rehabilitation, working on all aspects of reinsurance arbitrations so as to maximize reinsurance recoverables. The intial years of her career were with a law firm where she was responsible for reinsurance and insurance coverage litigation and arbitrations, including many international disputes. She greatly enjoys working in the reinsurance industry where she has met and worked with (and on the opposite side to) many talented people. Originally from Australia, she has been fortunate to have had the opportunity to have lived and worked in, as well as visited, many different countries.