Meet the Team.
Senior Team Members
Kabir Chanrai
CEO
Kabir’s career has been focused on building and investing in great businesses in the insurance industry.
He started his career at Goldman Sachs in the Reinsurance Team, and following this spent 8 years working in private equity, most recently at Preservation Capital where he had a key role on the BMS and Optio investments, before moving on to Nirvana.
Kabir has a Masters from Oxford University and an MBA from London Business School.
Rob Jones
Chairman & Head of Media, Tech & Cyber
Rob is one of the foremost underwriters in Media & Tech insurance. Over the last 20 years of his career, Rob has successfully built 2 lasting and scaled Media/Tech and Cyber Portfolios, firstly for an insurance company and secondly in branching out and setting up an MGA.
Before founding Nirvana in 2017, Rob headed up the Media & Tech team at Axis, and prior to that was at Hiscox and Aon for a number of years.
Rob has a BA from King’s College London.
Torquil McLusky
Managing Director of Pulse
Torquil is Managing Director of Pulse, a role he has held for more than a decade, in that time overseeing a significant expansion of the business' product set and capabilities.
Torquil has spent over 30 years in the Lloyd's market, including as Lloyd's General Representative in France, and also roles with Ascot and Kiln.
Torquil is a qualified Barrister and Chartered Insurance Broker.
Joe Balsom (CII)
Head of Specialty
Joe is Head of Specialty at Pulse Insurance, overseeing Personal Accident, Travel and related corporate risk lines.
Joe has over 25 years of underwriting experience across previous roles at Towergate, Oval and Pen Underwriting.
Joe obtained his Cert CII in 2008.
Sue Clark (ACII)
Head of Life and Protection
Sue Clark runs the Life underwriting team at Pulse Insurance, where she has been closely involved in building the company’s individual and group products.
Prior to joining Pulse, Sue was a Senior Underwriter at AmTrust, and prior to that, ANV and Kiln.
Sue obtained her ACII in 1990.
Mark Nicholson (Cert CII)
Head of Sport & Leisure, Pulse
Mark heads up the Sports & Leisure team at Pulse, having moved across from St Benedicts when it was acquired by Pulse in 2019. Prior to that, Mark worked at LRO Insurance and Worldwide Sports Insurance.
Mark has a BA from Coventry Business School, and has obtained his Cert CII.
Eddy Van Den Bosch
Managing Director of Arena
Eddy is MD of Arena, a role he has held since 2004.
Eddy started his career in the insurance industry in 1985, and held various underwriting roles before joining Arena.
Eddy studied law at the University of Leuven.
Debbie Boyles
Operations Director
Debbie is Operations Director. She has been with Pulse for over two decades and has become the bedrock of the team.
Prior to Pulse, Debbie worked in various roles, most recently in the accounting department of a local firm.
Andrea Garcia-Beltran
Partner, Head of Cyber Europe
Andrea is one of the foremost Cyber insurance practitioners in Europe. Before joining Nirvana, she held senior roles including Head of Cyber at RSA, Head of Finex Latam at Willis, and Cyber lead at Aon.
Andrea is a qualified lawyer specializing in Spanish law, and additionally holds a master’s degree in insurance and risk management.
Glenn Crickmar
Underwriting Manager - Technology US & International
Glenn is a senior member of the team focused on underwriting Media, Tech and Cyber risk, and has spent the last 15 years in this class of business.
Prior to joining Nirvana in 2017, he worked with Rob at Axis for 8 years.
Andy Baumli
Branch Manager Switzerland
Andy is a senior executive with strong local Swiss and international insurance, reinsurance, broking business and client management experience across all industries and multinational and local complex risks.
His global knowledge and experience include work in Europe, Asia, and Australia/NZ.
Dominic Ward
Claims Manager
Dom is a seasoned insurance professional and solicitor with over 30 years of combined experience across the specialist insurance and legal sectors.
Past senior roles include Vice-President, Claims Manager (Media & Technology) at AXIS, where he worked closely with Rob Jones and Glenn Crickmar, and Claims Legal Counsel at Travelers.
During 15 years in legal private practice Dom specialised in media and intellectual property litigation.
We are always on the lookout for the best talent to join us and to help us build our business. If you are interested in becoming a partner at Nirvana, please contact us.
External Board Members
Andrew Banks
Co-founder, Abry Partners
Andrew Banks co-founded Abry in 1989. Prior to this, Andrew was affiliated with Bain & Company, where he shared responsibility for Bain’s media practice.
Andrew is a graduate of Harvard Law School, a Rhodes Scholar with a Master’s degree from Oxford University, and an honors graduate of the University of Florida.
Rajiv Bhala
Co-Founder, Euston Ventures
Raj is a co-founder of Euston Ventures, a UK investment firm, where he has co-led 3 buyouts since 2014.
Raj has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Oxford University.
Shaun Rader
Partner, M2O Inc
Shaun is a Partner at investment firm M2O. Shaun has spent several years in the private equity industry, and started his career at Bain & Co.
Shaun earned his MBA from Wharton and his BA from University of Virginia.
Philip Stevenson
CEO, VALE Insurance Partners
Philip is Co-founder & CEO of VALE, a leading global transactional risk MGA. Prior to VALE he spent several years in the private equity industry at HIG and started his career as an investment banker at Wachovia Securities.
Philip received his MBA degree from Wharton and a BS in finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Bastiaan Krol
Chief Broking Officer at Meijers Assurantiën
Bastiaan is Chief Broking Officer at Meijers, a leading Dutch insurance broker, where he is responsible for all P&C broking and claim handling activities. Bastiaan is also responsible for Meijers’ MGA portfolio and activities. He is member of the board of Meijers and since April 2022 also ‘partner’ in the company.
Prior to his career, Bastiaan earned a Master Degree in International Business at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
John Blundell
NED at Pulse
John is a highly respected insurance leader, with prevous roles as Managing Director of Ecclesiastical Insurance, Sterling Insurance Group and St Andrew’s Group.
John has a Bachelors of Law from the University of Sheffield.