RenaissanceRe executive Justin O’Keefe has been elected chairman of the board of directors at the Reinsurance Association of America.

The RAA is the leading trade association of property and casualty reinsurers doing business in the United States.

Mr O’Keefe, who is based in Bermuda, is senior vice-president and chief underwriting officer, North America and Bermuda, at RenRe.

He leads the company’s market engagement and deal execution for all lines of business across these geographical regions.

New Jersey-based Jim Williamson, executive vice-president, group chief operating officer, and head of reinsurance division for Bermudian-based Everest Re Group Ltd, was elected vice-chairman.

New York-based Jon Colello, CEO, P&C Americas, for Bermudian-based PartnerRe, was elected secretary-treasurer.

Mr O’Keefe joined RenRe in 2004 and has held a series of senior underwriting roles, including chief underwriting officer of RenRe’s global property segment, before assuming his current position in 2023.

He also serves on the board of directors of Top Layer Reinsurance Ltd, DaVinci Reinsurance Ltd, and Vermeer Reinsurance Ltd, and is involved with multiple other insurance and reinsurance trade organisations.

At Everest Re, Mr Williamson is responsible for advancing underwriting excellence, digital transformation, innovation, operational efficiency and data and analytics capabilities across the group and for leading the company’s reinsurance division.

Mr Colello is a member of PartnerRe’s executive leadership team and has executive responsibility for leading PartnerRe’s property & casualty business in the US, Canada, and Latin America, and for the company’s health business in the US.

He was previously president North America at Axis Re in the US where he had overall responsibility for underwriting platforms in Bermuda, Canada, and the United States, and served as a member of the reinsurance leadership team.