Waterloo, Ont.-based Economical Insurance Wednesday announced the appointment of Chris Van Kooten as senior vice-president and chief underwriting officer.

Reporting to Karen Gavan, president and CEO, Van Kooten’s new mandate now includes accountability for both personal and commercial insurance, as well as continuing to increase the level of sophistication in Economical’s pricing and analytics.

As a member of Economical’s executive team since October 2008, he has held various executive roles with accountability for corporate actuarial, pricing, analytics and personal insurance.

Van Kooten holds both his FCAS (Fellow, Casualty Actuarial Society) and FCIA (Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries) designations. He has also been actively involved in the actuarial community outside of Economical. He previously held the position of president of the Ontario Conference of Casualty Actuaries.

Founded in 1871, Economical Insurance is a property and casualty insurer with $2 billion in annual premium volume and $5.2 billion in assets.