Longtime specialty insurance leader to advance underwriting excellence, talent development and innovation across Bridge’s North American wholesale business
Bridge Specialty Group, a leading global insurance wholesale broker, today announced the appointment of Todd Wood as chief underwriting officer. In this North American leadership role, Wood will lead Bridge Specialty Group’s underwriting strategy and help advance discipline, consistency and performance across its North American operations.
Wood brings more than 25 years of specialty insurance leadership experience to the role, including more than two decades in the excess and surplus lines market. He joined Bridge Specialty Group in 2023 through its acquisition of New England Excess Exchange, a wholesale brokerage and managing general agency offering a range of E&S products and solutions. Wood has served as president of the New England Excess Exchange business since 2019. Earlier in his career, he spent 20 years with a regional managing general agency, where he held several leadership roles, including chief underwriting officer.
“Todd brings a combination of deep technical knowledge, E&S market experience and proven leadership that makes him exceptionally well suited for this role,” said Anurag Batta, president of Bridge Specialty Group. “He understands our business, our teammates and the needs of our carrier and retail partners. As we work to earn our position as the wholesaler of choice for retail agents, Todd will play an important role in strengthening standards, developing the next generation of talent and advancing the use of data and technology to help our teams make better, faster decisions.”
As chief underwriting officer, Wood will establish and advance standards across Bridge’s North American operations, strengthen quality controls and drive greater consistency in processes and decision-making. He will work closely with office and underwriting leaders to ensure teams have the skills, tools and guidance needed to support profitable, sustainable growth.
Wood will also lead strategic initiatives focused on data analytics, third-party data, AI-enabled capabilities and workflow enhancements designed to improve accuracy, efficiency and consistency at scale. A key focus of his role will be developing underwriting talent across Bridge’s North American operations, including identifying and mentoring future leaders and expanding training and career development opportunities.
“Bridge has tremendous underwriting talent across our North American organization, and I’m excited for the opportunity to build on that foundation,” said Wood. “My focus will be on creating the standards, tools and development opportunities that help our teams make strong decisions while continuing to deliver for our carrier and retail partners. I look forward to working across the organization to strengthen our culture and position Bridge for continued growth.”
