Ascot Underwriting Hires Former Aon Benfield Exec in Hartford

Lloyd’s syndicate Ascot Underwriting appointed Dawnmarie Black as senior vice president based in Hartford, Connecticut. She will take on her new role beginning December.

Black joins Ascot from facultative broker Aon Benfield Fac Inc. where she was executive managing director and was responsible for developing and launching FAConnect, a web portal and an electronic placing platform for facultative business transactions.

In her new role at Ascot, she will work with executive director Charlie Cantlay and other senior executives to expand Ascot’s presence in the U.S. market, with a particular focus on facultative reinsurance. Cantlay is also a recent appointee at Ascot, having joined the company in September. He also came from Aon Benfield where he was chairman of Aon Benfield UK and chairman of Global ReSpecialty.

Founded in 2001, Ascot Underwriting is a Lloyd’s syndicate backed by Chartis and is a global specialty insurance underwriter. It writes a composite book of business across a number of classes: property, energy, specie & fine art, cargo, terrorism & political risks, marine hull/liabilities, natural resources and treaty reinsurance.