Jenks will oversee Accelerant’s legal affairs and corporate governance. He joins with more than 20 years’ experience in capital markets, third-party capital, M&A, investment transactions and public company governance. Most recently, he was senior vice president of corporate and securities counsel and corporate secretary at Reinsurance Group of America (RGA), where he held leadership roles for more than 14 years. He previously advised public companies on transactions, disclosure and compliance.
Author: Awais
With no debate and little discussion, a final Florida House committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would set up a clearinghouse to help move commercial policies out of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and into surplus lines carriers. The House Commerce Committee, the final stop before a House floor vote, adopted a “strike-all” amendment to the bill after state regulators and some insurance brokers and agents had raised concerns in recent weeks. But the approved version incorporates few of the changes that agents and Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky had hoped for—despite words from the bill sponsor that indicated otherwise. “What…
From 2014 to 2024, over half a million lives (516,790) were lost to suicide, with 2022 marking the highest annual total on record. Since then, overall suicides have declined somewhat, but trends diverged by method: firearm suicides continued to rise, reaching a new high in 2024. As a result, firearms accounted for 57% of all suicides in 2024, up from 50% in 2014, while suicides by other methods fell. Some of the shift may also reflect undercounting if some suicides are recorded as unintentional drug overdose deaths. These shifts may have implications for prevention strategies including the capacity and design of crisis…
A U.S. judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing Tesla of discriminating against American citizens in hiring so it can pay less to foreign workers, but said he was skeptical that the software engineer who sued would prevail. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said in a brief order late Monday that Scott Taub, who filed the proposed class action in September, had offered up “just enough facts” about Tesla’s hiring practices for the case to move forward. Taub says the electric carmaker led by billionaire Elon Musk passed him over for an engineering job, part of…
American Express Co., Deere & Co. and Johnson & Johnson have dropped diversity criteria for selecting new board directors, according to a conservative shareholder activist group. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is considering a similar change, Bloomberg confirmed earlier this week. The moves are the latest ways that pressure from conservatives is changing corporate management and governance. American Express signed an agreement in October with the nonprofit National Legal and Policy Center, an activist shareholder that opposes DEI programs at companies, according to a letter viewed by Bloomberg News. Deere made changes to its bylaws that came after a shareholder proposal…
WalkerHughes Insurance, a privately held, founder led retail insurance brokerage, announced its expansion into Ohio with the acquisition of Sacksteder Worland Insurance Agency based in Tiffin, Ohio. This partnership represents WalkerHughes’ fourth state of operation, adding to its established presence in Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois. The agency, owned by Joe Worland, has built a strong reputation for long standing client relationships and trusted local service. Worland will remain actively involved in the business, ensuring continuity for clients, partners, and employees. The Tiffin office will continue to serve clients locally under the WalkerHughes brand, supported by regional and centralized resources. WalkerHughes…
APCIA warns premiums and safety risks could rise
Catastrophe bond issuance is on track to make this first-quarter at least the second busiest start to any year on record, with Artemis’ Deal Directory data already projecting close to $5.86 billion of cat bond issuance for Q1 2026, only falling behind the total from last year at this stage.With February not even over yet there is time for the pipeline of new catastrophe bonds to continue building as well, so the eventual first-quarter 2026 issuance total is likely to be higher still. In addition, it’s worth highlighting that the figures quoted below will become stale in just a few…
Congressional scorekeepers expect the Hospital Insurance trust fund to run dry more than a decade earlier than they previously expected, after Republicans’ megabill slashed the revenues it receives from taxes.
The Medicaid program finances about 4 in 10 births in the U.S. Federal law requires states to provide pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage through 60 days postpartum. After that period, some postpartum individuals may qualify for Medicaid through another pathway, but others may lose coverage, particularly in non-expansion states. To help improve maternal health and coverage stability and to help address racial disparities in maternal health, a provision in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 gave states a new option to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage to 12 months via a state plan amendment (SPA). This new option took effect on April 1,…
From surging specialty premiums to landmark annuity milestones, the latest earnings period highlights broad-based momentum
The former police chief in New Haven, Connecticut, was arrested Friday on larceny charges following allegations he stole $85,000 from two department accounts. Karl Jacobson, 56, who abruptly retired from the department in January, turned himself in on an arrest warrant. He was later released on a court-set bond of $150,000, a state prosecutor said in a news release. Jacobson faces two counts of larceny related to defrauding a public community. “An allegation of embezzlement by a police official is a serious matter and potentially undermines public confidence in the criminal justice system,” Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin said…
Steadfast’s international businesses, meanwhile, posted a sharp step-up in net revenue to $56.4 million, up 220.5%, helped by acquisitions and strong performance in specialty lines, including a contribution from Novum Underwriting Partners, acquired in August 2025, which the group said produced more than US$140 million in GWP and 60% organic growth. In a market where global specialty capacity and delegated authority models are evolving rapidly, that international expansion is likely to interest both Australian broker principals looking for cross-border capability and insurers assessing who controls access to specialty placement.
Kansas is set to invalidate about 1,700 driver’s licenses held by transgender residents and roughly as many birth certificates under a new law that goes beyond Republican-imposed restrictions in other states on listing gender identities in government documents. The new law takes effect Thursday. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the measure but the Legislature’s GOP supermajorities overrode it last week as Republican state lawmakers across the U.S. have pursued another round of measures to roll back transgender rights. The bill prohibits documents from listing any sex other than the one assigned birth and invalidates any that reflect a conflicting gender…