Bermuda-based RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. announced today that senior vice-president Ian Branagan has been promoted to the position of chief risk officer, effective immediately.

Mr. Branagan will replace Todd Fonner, who will now concentrate on his role as chief investment officer.

In his new role, Mr. Branagan will also join the company's Executive Management Committee.

"Risk management is a key component of our long-term success and is at the core of all of our activities," RenRe chief executive officer Neill Currie said. "Robust, forward-looking risk management is ever more critical given our ongoing growth and development.

"Ian has been a major contributor to the evolution of our risk management culture, systems and processes over the last 10 years and he will bring his experience, expertise and dedicated focus to the position."

As CRO, Mr. Branagan will be responsible for oversight and management of enterprise-wide risk management practices at RenRe, which are currently rated 'excellent' by Standard & Poor's, the highest applicable ERM rating. Mr. Branagan joined RenRe in 1998 to open the company's Dublin office, later relocating to Bermuda with additional responsibilities for underwriting risk and modelling across the company's insurance and reinsurance operations. He has served as the head of Group Risk Modelling since 2005.

Prior to joining RenRe, Mr. Branagan led Applied Insurance Research Inc.'s (AIR) international activities, which included the development and marketing of AIR's cat models and tools. He also worked in the London market at DP Mann Ltd., developing pricing and risk analytics.