W. Robert Berkley, Jr.
Chairman, President and CEO
2015 – Present
11 years (current)
Key Decisions & Impact
Berkley succeeded his father as CEO in 2015, when William R. Berkley moved to executive chairman and was named Chairman effective immediately upon his father's death on June 9, 2026. He has continued the company's decentralized, specialty-underwriting model rather than shifting toward large-scale M&A or a more centralized structure.
Legacy
Leads the public company and continues the specialty underwriting and capital discipline model his father built over nearly six decades. His decision to maintain the decentralized operating model rather than consolidate units for cost synergies, even amid pressure from some investors for greater efficiency, reflects continued conviction in the underwriting-discipline philosophy his father established from the company's founding. He has continued the company's long-standing practice of launching new specialty underwriting units in response to emerging risk categories -- including cyber and other technology-driven exposures -- rather than relying solely on legacy property-casualty lines for growth. He has also overseen the company's international expansion, growing specialty insurance operations in the UK, continental Europe, South America, and Asia-Pacific, extending the decentralized operating-unit model his father pioneered domestically into markets with very different regulatory and competitive dynamics.