Coface North America, a leader in Credit Insurance and Business Information Services, is pleased to announce several key leadership appointments as it realigns the organization for growth. Lee Spurrier has been named to lead US Sales, Benoit Urbin will serve as Canada Country Manager, Paul Haigley will head North America Commercial Underwriting and Daniel Franca will oversee our focused efforts in the Financial Institutions & Structured Products markets. “Ensuring we have the best leaders in the right roles is a priority for me as we work to best serve our current and prospective clients, distributors, and partners,” said Oscar Villalonga, CEO of Coface North America.
Lee Spurrier is a veteran of the credit insurance industry and has over a decade of experience representing Coface. He founded the L.B. Spurrier Insurance Agency, Inc. in 2008 to serve as Coface’s General Agency for the Western U.S. As President of that firm, he has been responsible for developing Coface’s market position and client portfolio across 11 western U.S. states. He is an expert on the Coface product suite and has deep ties to partners across the U.S. In this newly created role, Lee will lead our sales efforts across all distribution channels including Direct Sales, Financial Institutions, Specialty Trade Credit Brokers, and Coface Global Solutions (CGS).
Benoit is a seasoned executive, having started his career with Coface in 2014. He has held a variety of roles in Western Europe over the past 5 years. Initially, he served as Head of CGS for Western Europe, then became Chief Commercial Officer for Western Europe and France. During his three years in this role, he was responsible for managing large commercial teams across Europe. Most recently, Benoit has served as the Chief Underwriting Officer for Western Europe. Prior to joining Coface, Benoit held an array of executive roles at American Express over a 13-year career, most recently as the Commercial Director of the company’s Global Corporate Payments division in France.
Paul is a veteran of the Credit Insurance industry, bringing more than 30 years of experience from a variety of senior level roles across multiple organizations, including AXA Insurance Company and Euler Hermes. There, he held an array of positions in Account Management, Risk Underwriting, and Commercial Underwriting. He managed the relationships with many of the organization’s largest and most complex multi-national clients and their associated brokers. He joined Coface several months ago in an interim role leading our US Specialty Broker team and will now move into this role, which will enable the organization to best utilize his skills and experience.
Daniel has been with Coface for nearly 2 years and has held several roles of increasing responsibility, including leading the Commercial Underwriting team. Prior to joining Coface, Daniel’s professional experience includes positions in the Banking/Financial Services, Consulting, and Logistics industries. Most recently, he worked for a consulting firm focused on identifying M&A activities for international investors. He also held executive roles at Banco Itau BBA in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Deutsche Bank in New York City.
Lee assumed his role on July 1, while Paul and Daniel’s appointments became effective on July 8. Benoit is wrapping up his assignment in Europe and will join the team in Canada at the beginning of September. Villalonga noted, “In an increasingly uncertain global economy, the need for credit insurance has never been more evident. Coface is proud of the role it plays in helping companies manage the business risks they face while helping them to grow and succeed. The executive appointments we are announcing today make us a stronger organization and improve our ability to help North American based businesses and the brokers and bankers with whom they work.”
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