Veteran reinsurance executive John Berger is leaving Alterra Capital Holdings Ltd.

Mr Berger, has been the CEO of the company’s reinsurance operations and a member of the board of directors since Alterra was formed by the combination of Max Capital and Harbor Point Re.

In a statement last night, Alterra said Mr Berger was leaving “to pursue another opportunity”.

Mr Berger previously led Harbor Point as its president and CEO from the company’s formation in Bermuda in 2005. Before that, he had been a founder of Chubb Re.

Alterra also announced that Thomas Wafer, formerly the president of Alterra Reinsurance USA, has been appointed its new CEO of reinsurance.

“We appreciate all that John Berger has done to help create Alterra, to ensure the tremendous success of our merger, and to build a reinsurance team that is strong and deep,” said Alterra CEO Marston Becker.

He added that Mr Berger had “earned a well-deserved reputation as a fine leader in our industry”.

“We are fortunate to have Tom Wafer, a highly regarded and experienced industry professional, as our new CEO of reinsurance, as well as a group of outstanding CUOs in Jed Rhoads, Dave Kalainoff and Trevor Carvey, all with exemplary track records of underwriting profitability.

“With this strong reinsurance leadership team, we believe that Alterra will continue to be well positioned to successfully compete in today’s global reinsurance marketplace.”

Mr Wafer has more than 30 years of reinsurance industry experience and has been president of Alterra Reinsurance USA since November 2009. From 2005 to 2009, he was managing director of International Underwriting for Harbor Point Re Ltd and New Point Re Ltd in Bermuda.