Quanta US Holdings, Inc., the holding company for the US-based specialty insurance operations of Quanta Capital Holdings Ltd., has announced the appointment of Robert Fishman as president of that division.

Mr. Fishman, in his new role, will have overall responsibility for Quanta's specialty underwriting operations in the US and is to be based in New York.

Quanta US, through its operating subsidiaries, underwrites coverages for specialised and technically advanced classes of risk.

These include professional liability, marine and aviation, environmental liability, fidelity and crime, commercial surety, marine technical risk property and structured insurance.

Tobey Russ, who is CEO of Quanta Capital Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based company, said: "Rob Fishman brings an exceptional level of industry experience, management skill and underwriting knowledge to our US specialty insurance underwriting operations."

COO Michael Murphy said: "Rob's deep background in strategy development and leadership in developing technical applications for risk selection, pricing and processing are a great fit with Quanta's specialised market approach."

Mr. Fishman was said to have more than 20 years of insurance industry experience in senior positions. Most recently he served as executive vice president and chief underwriting officer for Zurich North America.

He joined Zurich in 1994 where he started up its non-medical professional liability business in the US.

From 1992 to 1994 he was vice president and general manager for Lexington Insurance Company, a unit of global insurer AIG, where he was responsible for major professional liability products. He began his insurance career with Progressive Insurance where he last served as vice president.

Mr. Fishman is a graduate of Hofstra University, New York, and has a J.D. from the University of Toledo (College of Law).

He practised corporate law before joining Progressive Insurance in 1984. He also holds the Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation.

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