AIG’s Bermuda boss handed Fred Reiss Lifetime Achievement Award

AIG’s country leader Bermuda has won this year’s Fred Reiss Lifetime Achievement Award, which was announced at the Bermuda Captive Conference.

Catherine Duffy was given the honour for her outstanding commitment and contribution to Bermuda’s captive industry. She has spent 41 years in service to Bermuda’s insurance industry, and was the first woman chartered property casualty underwriter in Bermuda.

Duffy, who has described herself as “a daughter of the soil of Bermuda,” is also author of ‘Held Captive’, the first book written about the history of international insurance in Bermuda. She was chosen as one of 36 women leaders globally as a fellow for the International Women’s Forum in 2018/19, and was more recently selected as one of 26 women in the 2020 class of AIG’s Women’s Executive Leadership Initiative.

The Fred Reiss award celebrates Bermuda figures who have had an outstanding impact and valuable contribution on the captive insurance industry. It was launched in 2016 and is named after pioneering Bermuda-based Ohio engineer Fred Reiss, who conceived of the idea of self-insurance. In 1962, Reiss created the world’s first captive as a dedicated subsidiary through which a corporation could manage its own risks.

Leslie Robinson, Bermuda Captive Conference chair and head of underwriting and claims at Willis Towers Watson Management Bermuda, said: “This year’s awardee is one who demonstrates the very drive and determination of Fried Reiss, who birthed Bermuda’s captive industry many decades ago.”

Duffy said it was an honour to join the likes of Jill Husbands, Michael Burns, Brian Hall and Jeremy Cox as past recipients of the award. “This award would not be possible without the pioneering spirit and resilience of Fred Reiss, for whom this award has been named,” she said. “I will always be grateful to Fred Reiss for choosing Bermuda as his domicile of choice for launching the ‘captive’ concept.”