Bermuda is a jurisdiction where regulators can talk with insurance leaders to achieve positive outcomes for everyone.That was the message from former PartnerRe CEO Patrick Thiele as he received the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bermuda Insurance Institute on Saturday night.Mr Thiele’s achievements during a decade of leading PartnerRe to become one of the world’s largest reinsurers were officially recognised at a dinner attended by hundreds of industry participants at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.Also honoured was Arch Capital chairman and CEO Constantine (Dinos) Iordanou, who won the BII 2011 Industry Leader of the Year award and Candace Roach, senior regulatory accountant at Validus Re, who was presented with the Young Industry Leader of the Year award.During his speech, Mr Thiele recalled that during his time working in insurance in the US, “many times I felt as if I was at cross-purposes with the regulators, as though we were adversaries rather than being on the same team”.One of Bermuda’s strengths as an insurance domicile was that it was properly regulated and it was also possible to “sit down and have an honest conversation with the regulators”, something that was beneficial to everyone.The Bermuda Monetary Authority regulates the insurance industry on the Island.The current PartnerRe CEO Costas Miranthis paid tribute to his predecessor, saying Mr Thiele had overseen the development of the Bermuda-based reinsurer from a firm with 600 employees to one with more than 1,200, while uniting them under “one strategy, one culture and one brand”.The Lifetime Achievement Award recognises a person who has distinguished his/herself in the industry over the course of their career, and has influenced and developed organisations, products, talent or industry networks with a view to building the future success for the Bermuda market.Apart from his success with PartnerRe, Mr Thiele was active in a number of industry associations, including The Geneva Association, the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR), The Global Reinsurance Forum and St John’s School of Risk Management.In 2008, he represented Bermuda’s insurers and reinsurers at the International Regulatory Dialogue in Brussels and participated in the Roundtable on Financial Mechanisms and Risk Management Instruments at the first United Nations Private Sector Forum on the Millennium Development Goals and Food Sustainability.On receiving his award, Mr Iordanou was keen to deflect credit to his colleagues at Arch.“I feel like the coach of a great team who is about to receive the championship trophy,” Mr Iordanou told diners at the gala dinner.“I feel so lucky and so proud to to be the leader of such a great team and I’m accepting this award on their behalf.”At Arch, where Mr Iordanou was a founding member, capital grew from $276 million in September 2001 to more than $5 billion at year end 2011, after $2.6 billion of capital was returned to shareholders through share repurchases. Book value has grown at an impressive annualised rate of 18.7 percent.Mr Iordanou is also chairman of ABIR, where he continues the policy work on Solvency II. He also serves as a Director of Verisk Analytics (formerly ISO Inc), and is the past chair of the American Insurance Association.Ms Roach received the Young Industry Leader of the Year Award, which recognises an individual under the age of 35 who, over the previous year, has made a significant contribution to his/her own organisation, promoted professionalism, ethics and the development of talent and technical expertise, and focused on achievement in both their career and in the wider community in Bermuda.BII president John Wight suggested she needed a large business card to accommodate all of her designations (CA, CPCU, ARe, AIS, AIM, ARM, ARM-E) and that she was considered an asset to Validus Re and her team, to the extent that a department had been formed around her to deal with all compliance issues across the company.Ms Roach is involved with ABIR on the Financial Reporting and Transparency Committee and also sits on the BMA Group Task Force with respect to reviewing legislation. She is a member of the CPCU Leadership Council and the CPCU Society Candidate Development Committee and the U40s, volunteering with sporting and charitable events and maintaining several mentoring relationships.