Chubb has appointed Richard Barnett Executive Vice President, head of North America Construction Surety. In this capacity, Mr. Barnett will be responsible for the underwriting, strategy and product management of construction surety products and services offered through Chubb's global large accounts segment.
Chubb is the fifth largest surety underwriter in the U.S., representing more than 70 of the Engineering News Record top 400 contractors. The business offers a wide variety of surety products and specializes in underwriting both commercial and contract bonds and has the capacity for bond issuance on an international basis.
Based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., Mr. Barnett will report to Stephen Haney, Vice President, Chubb Group, and Division President North America Surety, and Chief Underwriting Officer, Global Surety.
"Rich has close to four decades of global surety experience, with 35 years of them being at Chubb," said Mr. Haney. "Having someone of his caliber and global underwriting experience in this role will help us continue to provide qualifying firms the surety capacity needed to support a wide range of projects."
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Barnett served as Surety Director of Engineering and Construction, where he had underwriting responsibility for Chubb's large construction clients. He began his career at Chubb in 1986 as a Surety Underwriter, and throughout his tenure at Chubb has held a number of leadership roles with increasing responsibilities in North America and internationally. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and economics from Wartburg College, Waverly, IA, and holds a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation.