QBE Insurance has announced the creation of a new Global Head of Cyber role, with insurance industry veteran Serene Davis appointed to the position.

QBE said the new role would work with the company’s divisional cyber underwriting leaders “to develop and drive a unified cyber strategy for risk assessment, pricing, claims, product and service offerings, and marketing across the entire enterprise”.

Davis will remain based in Southern California, where she will be accountable for the overall global performance of QBE’s cyber business. She commences with QBE on 15 May.

She joins QBE from Beazley, where she most recently served as Regional Manager of the West and Head of the Los Angeles office. She served 17 years at Beazley.

QBE acknowledged Davis’s “deep cyber knowledge and strong leadership skills”, noting her “instrumental” role in Beazley’s Cyber Risks Global Strategy.

Prior to spending 17 years at Beazley, Serene worked at AIG and Federated Insurance.

QBE Group chief executive Andrew Horton said welcomed his latest senior cyber recruit to the Australian headquartered insurer.

“Cyber risk is a critical component of risk management for our brokers and customers, and we want to meet this need through a globally consistent cyber insurance strategy and become a market-leading cyber insurer,” Horton said.

“We’re delighted Serene will lead this important work for QBE.”