Chard Re promotes Orendorf to Chief Underwriting Officer

Chard Re, a reinsurance-linked investment manager run by well-known industry executives Rick Montgomerie and Charlie Vaughan, has promoted team member William (Bill) Orendorf to the role of Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO).

Orendorf had joined Chard Re back in 2022, roughly two years ago, taking on the role of Senior Portfolio Analyst and being based in Bermuda.

Chard Re was launched by former CATCo Aquilo ILS fund managers Montgomerie and Vaughan in 2019.

The Chard Re strategy is focused on sourcing, underwriting and allocating their investor capital to collateralized property catastrophe reinsurance and some retrocession contracts. Montgomerie and Vaughan have deep industry contacts and are selective, only participating in what they view as attractive reinsurance programs.

Chard Re provides its institutional investors a way to access select reinsurance-linked returns, from a team where the founders have a long history sourcing reinsurance business for hedge funds or investors and managing portfolios of risk.

Orendorf joined Chard Re having spent over two years working at AXIS Re, as an Underwriter of North American Property reinsurance business.

Prior to that, Orendorf had worked at TransRe for almost eight years, where he became Senior Underwriter. He then moved to Chubb’s Tempest Re and became a Vice President in Bermuda, before then working in California for a stint with reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter after which he returned to Bermuda for the role at AXIS Re.

In promoting Orendorf to Chief Underwriting Officer, Chard Re is signalling a continued strengthening of its operations, at a time when collateralized reinsurance investments are increasingly returning to favour and attracting new investor interest as well.

Chard Re Investment Management Ltd. had around $420 million in assets under management at the start of this year, Artemis’ directory of ILS fund managers shows.