Winner of 7th Fred Reiss Lifetime Achievement Award announced

The Bermuda Captive Conference (BCC) has announced Eduardo Fox is this year’s recipient for the 2023 Fred Reiss Lifetime Achievement Award, for outstanding commitment and contribution to Bermuda’s captive industry.

Leslie Robinson, BCC chair and senior vice-president – head of underwriting and claims at Willis Towers Watson Management (Bermuda), commented: "Both the BCC and the Bermuda Captive Network are thrilled to bestow this year's honoured award upon an industry veteran who has devoted over three decades to the captive insurance industry and the broader international business community in Bermuda. We deeply appreciate his long-standing service and unwavering dedication, which have played a pivotal role in maintaining Bermuda's status as the preferred domicile for captives and other global business ventures."

Fox has a decorated career in the captive insurance space spanning over 30 years, which saw him assist with the development of the Latin-American captive insurance market from the early 1990’s.

Fox serves as a consultant in Appleby’s Corporate and Private Client & Trusts practice groups in Bermuda, and for the global Latin American and Latin European team for the global law firm.

He has over 25 years of experience at Appleby, starting in the capacity of manager of the Corporate Practice Group. His duties were expanded in April 1997 to also include the management of the Trusts Practice Group and again in 2000 to include the management of the Global LatAm Business Development team. Since then, he has successfully participated in extensive business development exploration in major Latin American and Iberian economies, such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Venezuela.

Fox was actively involved in the negotiation and signing of Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Brazil, which effectively opened the doors for business development with the region. He was appointed a member of the Government of Bermuda’s International Treaty Team and is currently the Official Advisor to the Government of Bermuda on Latin American Affairs.

During the period of TIEA negotiations, he was able to promote Bermuda through the Latin American Risk Management Association (ALARYS in Spanish and Portuguese) and was instrumental in bringing that international organisation’s conference to Bermuda in 2004, 2010, and 2016, the only country that has achieved such a feat three times and the only non-LatAm jurisdiction doing so."

"It was a delightful surprise and a definite honour to receive such a prestigious recognition," said Fox. "I would like to profusely thank those who saw my contribution worthy of such high award, but I should like to mention that, like anything of this magnitude, it is due to the hard work and support by many in the industry and the country as a whole. I have been extremely lucky to be surrounded and assisted by so many great visionaries, who not only had the patience to listen to me but signed off on the great project of business—developing a new market of more than 600 million people."

The Fred Reiss Lifetime Achievement Award celebrates Bermuda figures who have had an outstanding impact and valuable contribution on the captive insurance industry. Launched in 2016, 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. Starting with American steel companies, Reiss pursued the concept in Bermuda and the sector recorded exponential growth over subsequent decades, fueling the foundation of the island’s global insurance market.