Zurich appoints Cushing as NA deputy chief underwriting officer

By Isha Marathe

March 24 - (The Insurer) - Zurich North America has appointed Tobias Cushing, former casualty technical director at the company, as its deputy chief underwriting officer.

Cushing will be responsible for supporting data-driven insights and enhancement of technical capabilities for Zurich North America’s underwriters across all lines of business, including property, casualty, specialty lines, excess and surplus and crop insurance.

In his new role, he will report to chief underwriting officer Heather Fox.

"With (Cushing's) exceptional breadth of expertise, we know this role will allow Zurich to realize synergies across all of our lines of business,” Fox said.

“The goal is to strengthen innovation and provide even more valuable resources to empower our underwriters to deliver actionable insights and solutions to our customers and brokers.”

Additionally, Zurich North America is adding a head of innovation role to help identify and advance the adoption of telematics and other Internet of Things tools, such as water sensors in customer properties, to support the mitigation of leading loss drivers. This hire will report to Cushing.

Based out of New York, Cushing joined Zurich head of construction casualty in 2022. Before that, he held various roles at The Hartford, including head of construction for middle and large commercial. Earlier in his career he practiced law as an insurance coverage litigator and advisor for complex insurance transactions.

Also on Monday, Zurich North America promoted Leah Rastiello to head of life sciences for its U.S. middle market business, effective immediately.