Joe Cohen, senior VP of communications for snack bar maker KIND Healthy Snacks, has moved to Bermuda-based reinsurance giant AXIS Capital Holdings as chief communications officer, the first to hold that title.
Cohen and newly hired chief marketing officer Michiko Kurahashi are charged with building an integrated marketing function at the company, which failed in an $11B merger bid with PartnerRe last year but is reportedly still looking for a major acquisition.
Cohen spent 15 years at MWWPR before departing for KIND in 2014.
Kurahashi is AXIS’ first CMO. She was head of marketing for CIT Bank and held top roles with UBS and HSBC.
AXIS, based in Pembroke, Bermuda, posted 2015 revenue of $4.1B and net income of $641.6M.
Albert Benchimol, president and CEO of AXIS, said in a statement, “As we grow the AXIS brand, we need to learn from the industries that are best at marketing on how to further connect and deepen our engagement with clients.” He called the present a “transformative time in our industry.”
The company continues to rely on Kekst and Company for corporate communications support.
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Senior-most communications executives in the Fortune 500 earned between $50,000 and $100,000 more this year than they did two years ago, according to a recent survey of chief communications officers.
