Brian O’ Hara, one of Bermuda’s best known former insurance industry leaders, has been appointed to the board of insurtech start-up Envelop Risk.

The global specialty cyber insurance analytics and underwriting firm is believed to be the first insurtech company with a physical presence in Bermuda.

Today it announced that Mr O’Hara has been appointed to its board of directors. He was the founding president and chief operating officer of XL Insurance (Bermuda) Ltd, and served as president and CEO of XL Capital Ltd — now XL Group — from 1994 to 2008. He was also chairman of XL from 2008 to 2009.

Jonathan Spry, CEO of Envelop Risk, said: “Brian’s extraordinary leadership as an executive and director transformed the insurance industry.

“He is an outstanding addition to our board, and we will benefit greatly from his domain expertise and counsel. Brian has helped form the excess casualty market back in the 1980s while the market was hopelessly unprofitable. Cyber-risk has parallels to the casualty markets of the ‘80s in its esoteric nature and growing demand. We will immensely benefit from Brian’s experience in building XL Capital from scratch.”

Bermudian-based Ari Chatterjee, chief underwriting officer at Envelop Risk, said: “Brian has been a long-time mentor for me. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to co-create the future alongside a visionary like Brian. Insurance business will look significantly different with the confluence of artificial intelligence and blockchain, however the core values of the business in customer centricity and product innovation will never retire. Brian brings us the wisdom to build a better future for the industry and Bermuda.”

Mr O’Hara said he was honoured to serve on the Envelop Risk board of directors. He added: “Envelop Risk is transforming the cyber insurance and reinsurance market through its innovative AI-based technology that addresses the complexity of cyber-risk to more effectively quantify risk and tailor products.”

Envelop Risk is headquartered in London. It has additional offices in Bermuda, Boston and Washington DC.

• For more information on Envelop Risk, visit www.enveloprisk.com or @enveloprisk