Zurich U.S. Appoints John Keohane Assistant General Counsel; Attorney to Support Zurich Global Energy Business Unit

Business Wire, Oct 2, 2000

Business Editors

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2000

Zurich U.S., one of the nation's leading property and casualty insurance companies, has appointed John R. Keohane Assistant General Counsel, the company announced today.

Mr. Keohane will be part of Zurich U.S.' corporate law division, and will directly support the Zurich Global Energy(SM) (ZGE) business unit. In his dual role, he will report to both David Bowers, Chief Legal Officer of Zurich U.S., and Anthony Recanatini, Executive Vice President of Zurich Global Energy, and will be based in New York.

Mr. Keohane comes to Zurich U.S. from White and Williams LLP in Philadelphia, PA, where he represented Fortune 500 insurance companies in all areas of commercial litigation. Prior to that, he spent five years as Vice President of Claims with ACE International in Philadelphia, where he handled worldwide technical claims management for a variety of insurance categories. Earlier in his career, Mr. Keohane worked as an underwriter, a claims manager and a claims attorney at CIGNA Property and Casualty Companies. Mr. Keohane received his B.A. from California State University at Sacramento and his J.D. at McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific.

"John's background in both law and insurance will be invaluable to us as we navigate through rapidly changing regulations in both the insurance industry and the global energy sector," said Pete Connors, President and CEO of Zurich Global Energy. "We are confident that his skills will help keep us on track as we build our energy risk management business."

Zurich Global Energy is the expanded global business unit of the Zurich Financial Services Group, which incorporates the former international operations of Zurich Global Energy with the U.S.-based activities of Zurich U.S. Energy. The unit's more global focus reflects the growing international nature of the energy business and better positions the company to protect clients' assets and balance sheets worldwide. Zurich Global Energy specializes in the provision of comprehensive risk solutions, risk engineering services and claims support tailored to the individual needs of oil and gas, petrochemical, mining and power companies. Its principal underwriting offices are in Bermuda, Chicago, Houston, London, New York, Oslo, Paris, Toronto, Zurich, and Southeast Asia.

The Zurich Financial Services Group is a global leader in the financial services industry, providing its customers with solutions in the area of financial protection and asset accumulation. The Group concentrates its activities in five business segments: non-life and life insurance, reinsurance, Farmers Management Services, and asset management. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, the Group's worldwide presence builds on strong positions in its three key markets - the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. It has offices in more than 60 countries reaching over 35 million customers and employing 68,000 people. Based on consolidated figures for 1999, the Group achieved gross premiums of USD 48 billion. This amount includes insurance deposits as well as premiums from the Farmers Exchanges. The net income amounted to USD 3.26 billion. On June 30, 2000, the Group had USD 435 billion of assets under management of which USD 260 billion represent funds managed for third-party institutional and retail customers.