AGCS Makes Leadership Changes in North America
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Allianz Group’s specialist corporate insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) announced today that effective December 31, Henning Haagen will take over as North American Regional Head of Specialty Lines, and Rich Soja will become the North American Regional Head of Marine. These appointments follow the retirement of John Barnwell after more than 20 years with the company. While taking on these new responsibilities, both Haagen and Soja will continue in their current roles as Northeast Zone Executive in the U.S. and Global Head of Inland Marine, respectively.
Since joining Allianz in 2008, Haagen has held a range of global leadership positions within the organization both in Munich and London, before being named Global Head of Aviation in 2015 and eventually relocating to New York. In January of 2017, Haagen was appointed Northeast Zone Executive, leading and executing local business strategies, plans and change initiatives for AGCS. As Head of Specialty, he will now be responsible for the Aviation, Energy, Entertainment and Marine segments for the entire North American region, including Canada.
Prior to AGCS, Haagen worked as a Senior Underwriter for both GE Insurance Solutions and Augsburg Re/Brit Insurance. He began his insurance career at Gerling Insurance and Reinsurance AG and is a graduate of University of Cologne with a degree in Economics and concentration in marketing and insurance.
Soja joined Allianz in August of this year from Tokio Marine Management, where he served as Senior Vice President, Marine. As the new Global Head of Inland Marine for Allianz, he is responsible for the oversight of both the Global and North American Inland Marine strategies with key distribution partners. The Inland Marine division covers risks in construction, transportation, communication, fine arts, related property and other specialty classes. Now as the Regional Head of Marine for North America, he will oversee the underwriting of both inland and ocean marine classes of business.
Prior to joining Allianz, Soja held several global leadership positions within the Marine divisions for Aspen and Chubb Insurance; he began his underwriting career at Crum & Foster. Soja graduated Wake Forest University Cum Laude with a degree in Business Administration.