Axis hands Jeske, Sales and Mandel leadership roles in cyber team restructure

By Isha Marathe

July 10 - (The Insurer) - Axis Capital has appointed Matt Jeske to head large-account underwriters, Ashley Sales to lead middle-market underwriters and Brett Mandel to lead SME and digital underwriters in its North America global cyber and technology (GCT) team.

The leadership shuffle comes weeks after Peter Smith was promoted to head of cyber, North America.

Jeske has been with Axis since 2020, and will drive strategy and execution for complex cyber risks, delivering tailored solutions for clients with revenues of $2 billion and more.

Sales has been with Axis since 2020, and will shape performance and innovation for the middle market segment.

Mandel has been with Axis since 2023, and will focus on scalable, tech-enabled solutions for small business cyber risks.

"We’re excited about the impact this team will have as we continue to raise the bar in cyber underwriting across North America," Axis said in a LinkedIn post.

At the same time as Smith was promoted, Axis also promoted Tara Sapru to the new position of GCT head of technical underwriting. She most recently served as global product leader, cyber and technology E&O.

At that time Axis said the realignment of responsibilities and simplification of the structure within GCT has led to the loss of three senior positions within the team: head of cyber US open market, head of wholesale cyber, and cyber chief underwriting officer.

As a result, Eric Seyfried, Glen Manjos and Simon Dejung departed Axis, Cyber Risk Insurer reported in June.