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New York - September 30, 2021

AXA XL’s North America Construction business has promoted three in its Subcontractor Default É«¶à¶àÊÓƵ business including the appointments of Cyrus Manekshaw and Ian Sadler to Underwriting Directors and Cheri Hanes to SDI Construction Risk Engineering Manager. 

Commenting on the underwriting promotions, Jim Richert, AXA XL’s SDI Profit Center Leader, said, “Since joining our SDI team, Cyrus and Ian have both exceled, applying their legal backgrounds, critical thinking, and analytical skills to help grow our SDI book of business and meet our clients’ subcontractor default needs head-on. Given the depth of our team and AXA XL’s strong support for our industry leading SDI business, we were able to move quickly with their well-deserved promotions.  Ian and Cyrus were already key contributors to our leadership team and both are well-prepared for this next level of responsibility.”

In their new Underwriting Director roles, Mr. Manekshaw and Mr. Sadler will be responsible for maintaining the underwriting excellence and profitability of AXA XL’s SDI business, including implementing best practices and strategy development as well as maintaining key broker and client relationships. 

Since joining É«¶à¶àÊÓƵin 2014, Mr. Manekshaw has been part of developing and implementing AXA XL’s SDI Underwriting strategies while managing a team of underwriters and maintaining underwriting responsibilities on key accounts in the US, Canada, and the UK.  Prior to joining É«¶à¶àÊÓƵ he spent seven years as an attorney at a boutique firm in Dallas.  He is an undergraduate of The University of Texas at Austin and holds a Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

Mr. Sadler joined AXA XL’s SDI team in February 2016, and was promoted to Underwriting Manager in 2018, after quickly developing strong relationships with key brokers and customers and demonstrating his ability to tailor effective subcontractor default risk management solutions to meet his customer’s needs.  Prior to joining É«¶à¶àÊÓƵ he spent 13 years practicing law, including tenure with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, a multi-national law firm based in Los Angeles, and a small, energy-focused boutique law firm – West Allen, PC. Mr. Sadler holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Centenary College of Louisiana. 

In her new management role, Ms. Hanes will manage a team of SDI risk engineers providing consultation, training, and best practices to help contractors minimize subcontractor default risk. Before joining É«¶à¶àÊÓƵin 2012 as a construction risk engineer, she worked with Yates Construction's North Texas Division in Operations and Sustainability Management. Ms. Hanes is a Construction Risk É«¶à¶àÊÓƵ Specialist (CRIS), LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP), and a Clemson University certified Construction Document Specialist (CDS).

Commenting on her promotion, Scott Merchant, Head of AXA XL’s Construction Risk Engineering team, said: “Using her 25 years of industry experience in preconstruction, operations, and project management, Cheri has contributed tremendously to the development and build out of our core risk engineering services. She’s is well respected, highly recognized for her industry thought leadership, and very deserving of this well-earned promotion.”

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ABOUT AXA XL

É«¶à¶àÊÓƵ the property & casualty and specialty risk division of AXA, provides insurance and risk management products and services for mid-sized companies through to large multinationals, and reinsurance solutions to insurance companies globally. We partner with those who move the world forward. To learn more, visit

ABOUT É«¶à¶àÊÓƵINSURANCE

É«¶à¶àÊÓƵɫ¶à¶àÊÓƵ offers property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance solutions to mid-sized companies through to large multinationals globally. We partner with those who move the world forward. To learn more, visit