Officers

Mark Byrne, Chairman
David Brown, Chief Executive Officer
Guy Swayne, Chief Underwriting Officer – International
Gary Prestia, Chief Underwriting Officer – North America
Patrick Boisvert, Group Chief Financial Officer


Mark Byrne, Chairman

Mark Byrne is the Executive Chairman and a Founder of Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings Ltd. Prior to founding Flagstone, Mark Byrne founded and managed West End Capital Management (Bermuda) Limited, a Bermuda investment management firm engaged primarily in Fixed Income Arbitrage. Along with his professional staff he managed over $1bn of net assets.

Mark has been involved in the insurance and reinsurance business as an owner/investor and board member for many years. He has invested at early stages in several insurance companies and has served on the boards of a number of insurance companies, including three public companies prior to Flagstone: White Mountains Insurance Group, Terra Nova (Bermuda) Holdings and Markel Insurance.

Mark holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where he also completed his Bachelor’s degree in philosophy.

David Brown, Chief Executive Officer

David Brown is a founder of Flagstone and has served as Chief Executive Officer since its inception. From September 2003 until our inception, Mr. Brown served as the Chief Executive Officer of Haverford (Bermuda) Limited and as the Chief Operating Officer of West End Capital Management (Bermuda) Limited. During his time at Haverford, Mr. Brown led the team which analyzed, structured and negotiated the acquisition of Merastar Insurance Company in 2004. As Chairman of Merastar, he led the board's oversight of the successful turn-around strategy.

Mr. Brown joined Centre Solutions (Bermuda) Limited in 1993, and was its President and Chief Executive Officer at the time of his retirement in 1998. At Centre, Mr. Brown was responsible for the global operations of a group with over $7 billion in assets and offices in several countries. Prior to joining Centre, Mr. Brown was a Partner with Ernst & Young in Bermuda. During his ten years with Ernst & Young, he specialized in insurance and was involved in the liquidation of numerous insurance companies in Bermuda, the U.K. and the U.S.

Mr. Brown is the non-executive Chairman of the Bermuda Stock Exchange and a Director and Trustee for the Schroder Family Trusts. Mr. Brown is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and a Member of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Guy Swayne, Chief Underwriting Officer – International

Mr. Swayne has extensive experience in the industry worldwide and brings a depth of expertise in underwriting, business development, and leadership to Flagstone Re. He has held a number of executive positions in the Bermuda, London and New York markets.  Prior to joining Flagstone Re, he was Chief Underwriting Officer, International with ACE Tempest Re Bermuda where he managed the International Catastrophe underwriting unit.

Mr. Swayne joined Ace in January 2000 and has held senior positions including Executive Vice President, ACE Financial Solutions International (AFSI) – Bermuda where he managed AFSI offices in London, Dublin, and Melbourne. In London he became President of ACE Financial Solutions Europe (AFSE) whereby he established and developed the European office reporting directly to the President and CEO in Bermuda.  Mr. Swayne was instrumental in many key elements associated with a start up operation including business plan and budget development, hiring underwriting team, business production and program completion.

Prior to joining ACE, from October 1996 to September 1999 Mr. Swayne was Senior Vice President with Aon Re Bermuda where he was responsible for the production, design and placement of reinsurance and capital market solutions for Bermuda domiciled Insurance, Reinsurance and Captive Companies.

From November 1993 to October 1996, Mr. Swayne was Vice President of Willis Faber North America in New York with responsibility for the production, design and placement of treaty and proportional reinsurance contracts for both United States domiciled companies and International companies. He was also responsible for marketing business into and production out of the Bermuda market.

Mr. Swayne’s early underwriting experience in the Lloyds market with John Poland & Company from 1987 to 1992, where as deputy underwriter he underwrote a global non marine portfolio enabled him to develop a broad knowledge of the industry and establish excellent industry wide connections.

Gary Prestia, Chief Underwriting Officer – North America

Gary has more than twenty one years experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry in senior underwriting and executive management positions successfully navigating across the underwriting cycles. From 1998 to 2003 Gary was Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer for Standard Property & Casualty lines at Converium before becoming President of Converium North America on January 1, 2004 when he assumed responsibility for all legal entities and staff in the United States and Canada.  As SVP and Chief Underwriting Officer, he was responsible for Property Cat, Property Non-Cat, Motor, Marine and Third Party Liability (excluding professional liability and workers compensation) and developed an excellent track record and improved profitability. In early 2005 Gary was brought in to Alea North America as CEO of the North American Reinsurance Division with the challenge to turnaround that business, restore profitability and expand short-tail underwriting and product offerings.

Prior to 1998, Gary held senior underwriting positions at Transatlantic Re, where he was responsible for Property, Property Cat, Marine, Aviation and Property Facultative lines.  He also held underwriting positions with increasing responsibility at Skandia America Re, St. Paul Re and Republic Insurance Group. Gary received his CPCU and ARe designations from the American Institute for Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters and undergraduate degree and graduate work at St. Johns University School of Risk Management and Insurance in New York.

Patrick Boisvert, Group Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Boisvert has been with Flagstone since its formation. He served as Chief Accounting Officer based in Bermuda until June 2008 when he relocated to Switzerland as CFO of Flagstone Reassurance Suisse and Group Finance Director. Prior to Flagstone, he was the Chief Financial Officer of West End Capital Management Limited where he was responsible for various finance functions in relation to hedge funds and reinsurance affairs. Previous to West End, Mr. Boisvert spent over five years with BISYS Hedge Fund Services Limited as Vice President Fund Administration. He began his career with Ernst & Young in Canada where he worked for four years in audit and corporate finance. He holds a Bachelor in Accounting from Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres, is a member of the CFA Institute and a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.