David A. Eklund

David A. Eklund is the co-founder and Chairman of Aeolus Re, a Bermuda based reinsurance firm specializing in property catastrophe reinsurance.^[1] Previously, he served as President and Chief Underwriting Officer of Renaissance Re, also a Bermuda based reinsurance firm.^[1]

Early life

He was born in Princeton, Illinois in 1959 moved with his family to Normal, Illinois in 1965 when his father left teaching to pursue a career in educational publishing. He moved with his family to Ramsey, New Jersey in 1972 when his father's promotion called for relocation to the New York metropolitan area. He graduated from Ramsey High School in 1978, having earned all state honors in soccer. Thereafter he attended the The College of William & Mary being graduated with a B.A. in Economics in 1982.

Career

Eklund began his reinsurance career in 1983 as an entry level trainee with Constitution Re, the reinsurance arm of the Crum & Forster group. In 1988 he was recruited by Ajit Jain to be the Treaty Department Manager for the Reinsurance Division of Berkshire Hathaway. There, he was instrumental in getting Berkshire to enter the property catastrophe field after hurricane Hugo and the San Francisco earthquake lead to a shortage of capacity in the market in 1989. In 1993, he joined Renaissance Re as a founding member of management, initially serving as Vice President in charge of International and Retrocessional business, ultimately rising to become President and Chief Underwriting Officer. In 2004, he resigned from Renaissance Re in conjunction with moving his family back to the United States.

Aeolus Re

After the active hurricane seasons on 2004 (Charlie, Frances Ivan, Jeanne) and 2005 (Katrina, Rita, Wilma) changes in catastrophe modeling firms models together with more stringent rating agency requirements resulted in a large capacity shortage for property catastrophe reinsurance. In response to this opportunity, Eklund, along with Peter A. Appel, formed the Bermuda based reinsurer Aeolus Re to write property catastrophe business. In addition to the co-founders, funding for this new company came mainly from Warburg Pincus and Merrill Lynch.

Personal

Eklund serves on the William and Mary Foundation Board, the Community School of Naples Board of Trustees, and is an active supporter of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Covenant House.

References