Novel launches with Bredahl as CEO, Bonneau as Chairman
Novel Financial Holdings, a new independent holding company that will oversee insurance carriers supporting managing general underwriters (MGUs), has launched with former PartnerRe CEO Jacques Bonneau as Chairman and Howden Re’s Rob Bredahl as CEO.
The executive team also includes Chris Coleman as Chief Financial Officer and David Drury as Head of Analytics & Risk.
A highly regarded leader within the global re/insurance sector, Bonneau retired as CEO and President of PartnerRe in March 2024. His career also includes several senior executive roles at insurer Chubb and senior advisor to the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).
Bredahl’s extensive background includes reinsurance, broking, and investment banking. He will continue to serve as Vice Chairman of
reinsurance broker Howden Re and Executive Chairman of Howden Capital Markets and Advisory, alongside his new role at Novel.
Coleman is joining Novel with three decades of financial and insurance experience, most recently serving as Group CFO of re/insurer Aspen Insurance Group.
Drury, with over 35 years of actuarial and underwriting experience, was previously EVP of Underwriting at Bermuda-based re/insurer SiriusPoint and is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society.
Novel’s launch follows its recent acquisition of Forza Insurance Holdings, which owns the attorney-in-facts (AIFs) of SureChoice Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (SURE) and Elevate Reciprocal Exchange (Elevate).
These policyholder-owned insurance companies are managed by Novel and write business through a strategic partnership with SageSure, one of the largest MGUs focused on catastrophe-exposed property markets in the United States.
Novel aims to build a diversified underwriting and insurance services business by combining fee income from insurance services, including AIFs, and the underwriting performance from insurance carriers.
The holding company expects to generate superior returns for its shareholders through increased scale and diversification of underwriting exposures and type of revenue, combined with expert selection of program partners.