United (UPC) names Martz as President, Dittman as Chief Risk Officer

Florida headquartered, expansive catastrophe exposed primary property insurer United Insurance Holdings (UPC Insurance) has appointed its CFO Brad Martz as President of the insurer and Chris Dittman takes on the role of Chief Risk Officer, keeping his reinsurance buying responsibilities as well.

Both are well-known in relation to United’s (UPC) purchasing of a robust reinsurance tower and its arrangements made over recent years with collateralised sources of reinsurance capacity, including from insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds.

These senior appointments come on the heels of the departure of CEO John Forney and his replacement with Dan Peed, who took on the roles of Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of United (UPC) from July 1st. Peed had most recently been Vice Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors.

Brad Martz has been the Chief Financial Officer of United (UPC) since he joined the firm in 2012 and will now also take on the role of President, continuing to report to the CEO Dan Peed.

With his responsibilities now expanded, Martz will oversee the carrier’s daily operations., with some of the executive team set to report directly to him. Martz will also continue to oversee the financial operations of United (UPC).

“Brad has a tremendous wealth of industry experience and understands the Company’s business and operations. In his expanded role Brad will manage the Company’s operations, which will allow me to focus on pursuing the Company’s strategic vision and strengthening underwriting profitability,” commented Peed.

Chris Dittman, meanwhile, takes on the newly created leadership position of Chief Risk Officer.

Dittman joined United (UPC) in 2017 as Managing Director of Reinsurance, with oversight for the insurers significant reinsurance program arrangements.

Keeping his reinsurance responsibilities, Dittman will now also be responsible for risk management, capital management and portfolio optimization strategies to manage United’s exposures and enhance its underwriting profit.

“Chris has successfully managed our critical reinsurance program and I am confident Chris will continue to lead our overall risk portfolio going forward,” Martz said

Dittman was previously a Partner with TigerRisk Partners from 2010 until 2017, having joined that company as a reinsurance broker in 2008.