- Push-out Score determined
- After about six and a half years in the position
- Steve Donaghy taking over
- Downes will remain as Executive Chairman at Universal Insurance
- Downes said 87 words
(exechange) — Fort Lauderdale, Florida, July 11, 2019 — Sean Downes, chief executive of Universal Insurance, leaves his position. As announced by Universal Insurance Holdings Inc. in a news release on Thursday, July 11, 2019, Sean P. Downes leaves his post as Chief Executive Officer at the insurance company after about six and a half years in the role, effective July 15, 2019.
Among the 3,000 largest publicly held companies incorporated in the U.S. based on market capitalization, the average tenure of the CEOs who departed over the past 12 months was 7.4 years, according to data compiled by exechange.
Sean Downes’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Stephen J. (Steve) Donaghy, currently Chief Operating Officer of Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc.
“Family and personal goals”
Sean Downes’s imminent departure from the CEO post is explained as follows. Universal Insurance said: “This move fits with Mr. Downes’s family and personal goals after 20 years as an executive of the Company, including the past six years as Chairman and CEO.”
Downes will remain as Executive Chairman at Universal Insurance
“Sean P. Downes will take on a new role as Executive Chairman, commencing July 15, 2019,” Universal Insurance said.
Share price decline
The announcement follows a decline in Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc.’s share price of 41 percent since September 2018.
In the position of CEO since 2013
Sean P. Downes has been the Chief Executive Officer of Universal Insurance Holdings Inc. since February 22, 2013 and served as its and President until March 11, 2016.
Sean P. Downes became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company in 2013.
Downes also served as President of the Company from 2013 to March 10, 2016.
Prior to becoming President and Chief Executive Officer, Downes served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company since 2005 and Chief Operating Officer of UPCIC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, since 2003.
Downes has served as a director of the Company since 2005 and as a director of UPCIC since 2003.
Prior to joining UPCIC, Downes was Chief Operating Officer of Alder Adjusting Corporation (formerly Universal Adjusting Corporation), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, from 1999 to 2003.
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding the management change on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to Universal Insurance and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 28.2019 ($).