James Nevels has joined XL Group’s board of directors.

His financial services and board experience includes being chairman of The Swarthmore Group, an investment adviser firm he founded in 1991, and as past chairman and lead independent director of The Hershey Company.

Mr Nevels also served in senior roles at Prudential-Bache Securities and Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.

He serves on the boards of First Data and Alcoa Corporation, and as lead independent director of WestRock. In addition, Mr Nevels is currently a member of the board of trustees of PGA REACH, member of the board of trustees of Trout Unlimited and member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously he served on the board of several organisations, including The Hershey Company, The Hershey Trust Company, the Milton Hershey School, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and MMG Insurance Company.

Eugene McQuade, XL’s chairman, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jim. His exceptional knowledge of the investment industry and deep business and governance experience will be of tremendous benefit to the company. We look forward to working with Jim and our talented teams to build on our strong market position and in realising our future potential.”