Executive Management Team

Joe Kavanagh, Director, President & Chief Executive Officer

Joe has over twenty-five years of corporate finance, merchant banking and financial advisory experience within the insurance industry. During his career, Joe has worked with a number of entrepreneurial management teams to form and capitalize several successful specialty insurance companies. Prior to founding Richmond National, Joe spent three years in the investment banking group of Compass Point Research & Trading. Prior to Compass Point, Joe spent fourteen years at FBR & Co. in Arlington, Va., where he helped to build, and ultimately lead, FBR’s Insurance Investment Banking Group. Prior to joining FBR, Joe worked in the Financial Institutions Group of First Union Securities, subsequently Wachovia Securities, in Charlotte, N.C. Joe’s prior experience included working for the Marsh & McLennan Companies and CIBC Oppenheimer in New York, NY. Joe earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Washington & Lee University and a Master of Business Administration from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Ashlee Randall, Chief Underwriting Officer

Ashlee has seventeen years of underwriting experience in the excess and surplus lines property and casualty industry. Prior to joining Richmond National, Ms. Randall served as Vice President of Kinsale Insurance Company, leading its Commercial Property, Small Property and Inland Marine divisions. She previously led Kinsale’s Energy and Environmental Divisions and built the Energy division from the ground up at Kinsale’s formation. Prior to joining Kinsale, Ms. Randall held various underwriting positions of increasing responsibility with James River Insurance Company. She earned B.A. degrees in both History and Mathematics from Sweet Briar College as well as earned the Associate in Insurance Services, Associate in Commercial Underwriting, Associate in Surplus Lines Insurance, and the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter designations from The Institutes.  

Doug Carson, Chief Financial Officer

Doug has over twenty years of corporate finance, merchant banking, financial advisory and financial operations experience within the insurance industry. Prior to Richmond National, Doug worked in the investment banking group of Compass Point Research & Trading. Prior to Compass Point, Doug held positions of increasing responsibility within the investment banking group of FBR & Co. in Arlington, Va. Prior to joining FBR, Doug worked in the Financial Institutions Group of First Union Securities, subsequently Wachovia Securities, in Charlotte, N.C. Doug’s prior experience included working for USAA Insurance, Freddie Mac and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Doug earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity University and a Master of Business Administration from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Aimee Venn, Chief Claims Officer

Aimee has over twenty-five years of claims experience working with Lloyd’s syndicates in the U.S., admitted carriers and E&S companies. Aimee joined Richmond National from Ark Syndicate Management where she served for five years as U.S. Claims Coordinator. Prior to Ark, Aimee worked at Markel Corp. for twelve years as an Executive Claims Examiner in their E&S division. Before working at Markel, Aimee worked for Utica National Insurance Group and Sentry Insurance Company as a Senior Claims Adjuster. Aimee graduated cum laude from Randolph Macon College and was a member of the Phi Betta Kappa honor society.

James Flajser, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Risk Officer

James has seventeen years of corporate finance, merchant banking, and strategic and financial advisory experience within the insurance industry. James joined Richmond National from B. Riley Securities (the successor to FBR & Co.) where he worked for over 15 years. Most recently, James served as Director, Insurance Investment Banking. Prior to this role, James held positions of increasing responsibility within the insurance investment banking group of B. Riley Securities. James earned a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University.

David Vanalek, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer

David has over twenty years of experience working as an attorney and claims professional in the property & casualty industry. David joined Richmond National from Markel where he worked for over fourteen years. Most recently, David served as the Claims Chief Operating Officer for Markel North America and Bermuda which included its excess and surplus lines operations as well as their other property & casualty and reinsurance units. Prior to this role, David spent eleven years as a Claims Director and Claims Manager overseeing the professional and management liability lines. Before joining Markel, David worked for nine years as a litigator and defense attorney specializing in insurance claims. David earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Davis School of Law.

Alex Albro, Chief Information Officer

Alex has over fifteen years of enterprise architecture, cloud infrastructure, security, networking and disaster recovery experience, including over ten years of experience within the E&S insurance and financial services industries. Alex was one of the early employees at Kinsale Insurance Company where he spent seven years serving in several roles, including Network & Infrastructure Manager and Team Lead. Prior to Kinsale, Alex spent 2 years at James River Insurance Company. Alex has also worked at Capital One Financial, Ippon Technologies, and Adaptavist where he architected cloud and DevOps enterprise solutions. Alex is an AWS Certified DevOps Professional and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from James Madison University.

Jamie Bock, Chief Human Resources Officer

Jamie has over fifteen years of experience in human resources and corporate recruiting. Prior to joining Richmond National, Jamie spent five years as the Director of Human Resources for the Richmond, Virginia based, U.S. arm of Ippon Technologies, a global technology consulting firm focused on implementing cloud and digital solutions. Jamie’s prior work experience includes roles at ICF International and Aerotek, Inc. Jamie earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Shippensburg University.