Exclusive: Everest chief HR officer Van Beveren departing after almost 40 years

By Isha Marathe, James Thaler

June 16 - (The Insurer) - Everest Group veteran and current chief human resources officer (CHRO) Gail Van Beveren is leaving after almost 40 years at the company, a source familiar with the matter told The Insurer.

Van Beveren, who also holds the title of executive vice president, joined Everest in 1986 when the company was called Prudential Reinsurance.

After initially joining as a business analyst within the company’s IT department, Van Beveren became part of the human resources team in 1996, and in the years since, progressed through the ranks before being appointed CHRO in 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Precise details about what spurred Van Beveren's departure, or who will succeed her as Everest’s CHRO, had not been confirmed at the time of publication.

Everest did not respond to a request for comment.

Van Beveren’s departure comes at a time of significant change within Everest’s senior ranks.

Most notably, in January, Everest CEO Juan Andrade surprised the market and left the business to take the helm at USAA.

Jim Williamson, having initially held the CEO role on an interim basis following Andrade’s departure, was then appointed to the position on a permanent basis in late January.

The backdrop to that CEO switch was Everest’s 2024 earnings, which included a U.S. casualty lines prior-year reserve charge of $1.5 billion. That reserve charge pushed Everest’s Q4 2024 combined ratio up to 135.5%.

Then in March, it was announced that Everest’s long-serving chairman Joseph Taranto’s more than three-decade association with the company would conclude in May, with former independent board member John Graf his successor.

There has also been a host of other senior personnel changes, with one other recent departure being Jake Sokol, Everest’s head of excess casualty national accounts, who this publication reported had exited amid possible plans to launch a new venture.

Senior arrivals include Ashleigh Sears who joined as head of alternative risk and head of national accounts excess casualty from USQRisk, and Pamela Guerrero who arrived from AIG’s Lexington unit as head of wholesale casualty as its Everest Evolution platform.