Everest’s Tibbitt: Sustaining value across risk cycles

Sharry Tibbitt, Everest’s deputy CUO and global head of portfolio management, on the outlook for the property market

How is Everest adapting its property strategy to maintain profitability amidst unpredictable market conditions in an elevated risk environment?
Agility is core to how we operate at Everest. It gives us our edge, and it’s what enables us to navigate changing cycles without compromising long-term returns. In the U.S., where property cat remains an attractive proposition, we maintain a healthy level of cat XL. Internationally, where market conditions are showing signs of softening, our approach is deliberately selective, prioritising programs that meet our preferred attachment, data alignment and margin thresholds. We have a seasoned, disciplined underwriting team prepared to steer our portfolio to profitability.

Our global tiering and real-time portfolio tools allow us to shift capital to the most compelling risk-adjusted opportunities, rather than chasing the loudest market signals. This agility is critical as we head into a period shaped by climate volatility, geopolitical uncertainty and shifting capital flows.

How does Everest incorporate its core values into managing property cat exposure and client relationships?
Clients can rely on Everest throughout the entire market cycle, and the team will provide total clarity and consistency. We provide stable capacity, transparent terms and fast, empowered decision-making when it matters most. Our local underwriters are empowered to act decisively, provide alternate solutions and communicate a clear appetite.

We stay engaged with our clients and brokers after renewals, seeking to understand how they are managing their portfolio and how we can support their business plans. Consistent communication builds trust, and trust is what sustains value in a market where conditions change rapidly.

Climate change is reshaping loss patterns, particularly with secondary perils. How is Everest evolving to stay ahead?
We have refined our views on non-peak perils—including wildfire, convective storm, and Flood—by adjusting our attachment points and structures to reflect their increasing contribution to annual losses. These non-peak perils have outpaced traditional catastrophe events for seven consecutive years, and our underwriting reflects that reality.

We combine underwriting discipline with decades of experience and deep data analytics, and we are expanding our use of parametric solutions to deliver more streamlined, targeted liquidity access when events hit. In many cases, adapting the structure of the protection is equally as important as adjusting the price.

How does Everest’s diversified portfolio and global platform deliver stability and capacity where it’s needed most?
Diversification at Everest is intentional. The Everest footprint spans more than 115 countries, and multiple specialties allow us to balance geography and peril while maintaining one consistent underwriting standard. We rely on our local experts and decision-makers to drive results. This enable us to support growth in resilient U.S. programs and remain selective where competition is compressing margins abroad. We can also connect clients to capital markets capacity when it creates better outcomes.

Looking to the 2026 renewal season, what are your early expectations and how might they shape Everest’s approach?
While we acknowledge the growth in both traditional reinsurance and alternative capital, we expect the market to remain broadly disciplined, with opportunities for strong risk-adjusted returns. With continued nat cat activity, demand for high-quality capacity will remain strong as buyers manage climate volatility and inflationary cost pressures.

Our approach remains clear: protect margins, maintain disciplined underwriting, prioritise client quality and data transparency, and commit capacity where structure, terms and returns align with our long-term view. That is how we sustain value across cycles – and why our clients know they can depend on Everest year after year.

How does Everest balance the need for growth with protecting against concentration risk in core cat portfolios?
Concentration risk is something we manage actively, not reactively. Even in the U.S. cat XL book—our growth engine—we use our global tiering model to manage capital deployment and avoid overexposure in any one region or peril. We have deliberately broadened into Northeast U.S. cat and diversified MGA-driven programs, while also expanding in markets such as India, the broader Asia Pacific region and products with renewables. This means we can grow in areas with the right margin profile, without sacrificing resilience.

This article originally appeared on www.theinsurer.com and has been reproduced here with their permission.