Chubb grows commercial leadership team

Chubb has expanded its commercial leadership team with two new appointments. The company has appointed Ketan Vaidya as division president of North America small commercial insurance and Jeffrey Updyke as head of North America lower middle market.

In his new role, Vaidya (pictured above) will have executive operating responsibility for Chubb’s insurance business that serves small commercial clients in the US and Canada. He will report to John Lupica, vice chairman of Chubb Group and president of North America insurance. Vaidya will also work closely with Chubb’s digital business teams, with matrix reporting to Sean Ringsted, executive vice president of Chubb Group and chief digital business officer.

Vaidya has nearly two decades of experience. Prior to joining Chubb, he served as chief digital transformation officer for Credit One Financial. He has also held digital leadership positions with companies including Comcast NBC Universal and Capital One Bank.

“Over the last few years, we have seen significant growth in both our small commercial and lower middle market businesses, requiring more dedicated support for both dynamic segments,” Lupica said. “Ketan brings a strong technology and engineering background and a proven track record in the digital space, and will help evolve our capabilities to provide a cutting-edge approach to small business.” 

As head of North America lower middle market, Updyke (pictured below) will lead all strategic efforts around providing Chubb’s distribution partners and their mutual clients with product and service offerings geared to that segment. He will report to Ben Rockwell, vice president of Chubb Group and division president, North America middle market.

Updyke joined Chubb in 1991 as an excess casualty underwriter. Before taking on his latest role, he served as division president of North America small business. Earlier in his career at Chubb, Updyke served as chief operating officer for North America field operations.

“Jeff has a strong reputation with our distribution partners across North America and is a trusted leader with a long track record of success in both branch and home-office leadership positions,” Lupica said. “Our lower middle market segment is growing at a rapid pace, and this expansion of leadership will enable us to deliver products and services crafted for the unique needs of this underserved market, such as our newest package offering, Benchmarq.”