Timothy Braun
Executive Vice President

Timothy Braun leads AXIS Financial Institutions, a unit of the Professional Lines Division of AXIS Insurance in the U.S. He directs underwriting strategy on a nationwide basis and has management responsibility for financial institution underwriters in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. He has been in this role since January 2004 when AXIS created a dedicated unit to serve this specialized segment of the market. Tim has over 20 years of financial institutions experience. Formerly, he was Vice President and National Practice Leader of Financial Institutions for AXIS Financial Insurance Solutions when that unit handled both commercial and financial institutions accounts. He served in a similar capacity at Kemper from January 2000 to February 2003 before the Financial Insurance Solutions unit became part of AXIS. Prior to joining Kemper, he had been an insurance broker and held positions at Aon and Frank Crystal & Co. in New York City. He also previously worked five years in Chubb’s Department of Financial Institutions. Tim holds a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Spanish from Hamilton College and an MBA in Finance from Hofstra University, where he also has served as an adjunct Professor of Finance.

Adam Grosz
Senior Vice President, Regional Manager

Adam Grosz has responsibility for financial institutions business throughout the Western Region of the United States. He is based in AXIS’ Los Angeles office and has over 15 years of executive liability insurance underwriting and brokerage experience. Prior to joining AXIS Financial Institutions, Adam spent nine years as a broker, most recently with Aon Financial Services Group in Los Angeles. He also previously worked six years for Chubb in various underwriting and management roles on the West Coast. Adam received his B.S. in Finance from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Bret Kilbourn
Senior Vice President, Regional Manager

Bret Kilbourn has responsibility for financial institutions business across the Eastern Region of the United States. He works out of AXIS’ New York office. Prior to becoming part of the Financial Institutions unit, he served as Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for the Southeast Region of AXIS Financial Insurance Solutions in Alpharetta, Ga. He also previously held underwriting and underwriting management positions in the Northeast Region of AXIS Financial Insurance Solutions, and in the Eastern Region when the Financial Insurance Solutions unit was part of Kemper. Bret began his insurance career as an underwriter in National Union's Middle Market Division. He also held financial positions at Merck & Co. Inc. in the area of corporate treasury. He earned a B.A. from Colgate University and an MBA in Finance from Cornell University..

Patrick McChrystal
Senior Vice President, Regional Manager

Patrick McChrystal has responsibility for financial institutions business in the Central Region of the United States. He has nearly 20 years of executive liability insurance experience predominantly focused in the Midwest. Prior to joining AXIS Financial Institutions, Pat had served in a number of underwriting and management roles from 2001 to 2008 while at Travelers Insurance Companies and its predecessors St Paul and Royal & SunAlliance. He also spent approximately 8 years as a broker of executive liability lines at Aon Financial Services Group in Chicago. Pat began his career as a financial institutions executive liability underwriter at CNA. He earned a B.S. in Business with a finance concentration from Eastern Illinois University.

Marc Berner, Esq.
Vice President

Steven Kane
Vice President

Bhuma Patel
Assistant Vice President

Bhuma Patel underwrites financial institutions business throughout the Eastern Region of the United States. She joined AXIS Financial Institutions in 2007 from ACE, where she had been a senior underwriter. Bhuma also previously worked at CNA. She graduated with an MBA from New York University in 2007.

Paul O'Donnell
Assistant Vice President

Alan Pham
Assistant Vice President

Ron Polonsky
Assistant Vice President

Ben Tran
Assistant Vice President

Ben Tran underwrites financial institutions throughout the Western United States. Prior to joining Axis Financial Institutions in April 2010, Ben was an Underwriting Manager for the Executive Assurance Practice at Arch Insurance. Before working at Arch, Ben was an Assistant Vice President at Marsh FINPRO. Ben began his insurance career as an underwriter for Chubb’s Executive Protection Practice. He holds a B.S., in Business Administration with emphasis in Finance and Marketing from the University of Southern California.

Kenny Li
Underwriting Manager

Kenny Li underwrites financial institutions business throughout the Eastern and Central regions of the United States. Prior to joining AXIS Financial Institutions in January 2010, Kenny worked in the Diversified Financial Institutions group of Zurich North America, where he was a Senior Underwriting Specialist. Prior to that, Kenny worked with Marsh in their Chicago and New York offices. Kenny is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he earned a B.S. and M.S. degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering. Kenny is also a CFA charterholder.

Justin Mele
Senior Underwriter