Executive Moves: Port of Corpus Christi, AGCS and USKBC

The Port of Corpus Christi names CEO; Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty appoints North American regional head of specialty lines, and North American regional head of marine; and the U.S. Chamber’s U.S.-Korea Business Council names chairman.    Port of Corpus Christi Executive Director John LaRue is stepping down from his role as executive director on Jan. 1, 2018, and will officially retire from the Texas port in June 2019. LaRue will serve in a senior advisory capacity to his successor, Sean Strawbridge, currently the port’s deputy executive director and chief operating officer, who will take the helm as CEO on Jan. 1, 2018.
   LaRue has led the Port of Corpus Christi since 1994, arriving at the port from the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, where he had served as executive director.
   Strawbridge, who arrived in Corpus Christi in 2015 after a national search for a successor to LaRue, previously worked at Oxbow Energy, Ports America Group and the Port of Long Beach, where he served as the managing director of port operations and trade development.

   Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), the Allianz Group’s dedicated carrier for corporate and specialty insurance business, has appointed Henning Haagen to serve as North American regional head of specialty lines and Rich Soja to serve as North American regional head of marine. These changes at AGCS will take effect Dec. 31, 2017. While taking on these new responsibilities, Haagen and Soja will both continue in their current roles as Northeast zone executive in the U.S. and global head of inland marine, respectively.
   Haagen, who joined Allianz in 2008, has held various global leadership positions within the organization, both in Munich and London, before being named global head of aviation in 2015 and eventually relocating to New York. Haagen was appointed Northeast zone executive in January 2017. Before joining AGCS, Haagen worked as a senior underwriter for both GE Insurance Solutions and Augsburg Re/Brit Insurance. He started his insurance career at Gerling Insurance and Reinsurance AG.
   Soja joined Alliance in August 2017 from Tokio Marine Management, where he served as senior vice president, marine. Soja has also held various global leadership positions within the marine divisions for Aspen Insurance and Chubb Insurance. He started his underwriting career at Crum & Foster.

   The U.S. Chamber’s U.S.-Korea Business Council (USKBC) has named David Cordani, president and CEO of Cigna Corp., to serve as chairman. Cordani, who will serve a two-year term as chairman of the USKBC, is succeeding Dr. Paul Jacobs, executive chairman of Qualcomm.