Bessellieu Heads Sapiens Americas

Seeking to increase its presence in the American insurance solutions market, Sapiens International has named Steven Bessellieu president of Sapiens Americas (Cary, N.C.) and a member of the company's global management team. Bessellieu most recently served as president of insurance enterprise solution provider Sherwood International's American operations prior to that company's being acquired by SunGard (Wayne, Pa.).

"Steven joins us as we enter an important period of growth and opportunity in the Americas," says Itzick Sharir, CEO, Sapiens International. "He brings a wealth of industry experience and knowledge to the organization and will help us drive ahead."

Bessellieu plans to use his industry experience and Sapiens' own record to help create a higher profile for the company. "We have now rolled out a combined platform for personal and commercial lines at [Boston-based] OneBeacon; we met the client's nine-month time frame, going live on schedule," Bessellieu comments. "We're also launching new products on the Sapiens architecture, including MediRisk, an expert underwriting system for life and health insurance."

Sapiens is also considering some acquisition targets as part of its effort to expand its footprint in the U.S. insurance space, according to Bessellieu.

Prior to his role with Sherwood, Bessellieu was a senior vice president and member of the global financial services executive board at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (New York), where he had direct responsibility for the strategy, development and deployment of all financial services solutions worldwide. Bessellieu has also held insurance industry and consulting positions with the Alpha Ins. Co., Deloitte & Touche and Unisys.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio