CNA Financial Corp., one of the largest commercial insurers in the U.S., has hired Jose Ramon Gonzalez as executive vice president and general counsel.

As CNA's top lawyer, Gonzalez will lead the Chicago-based firm's legal department and oversee compliance, regulatory and government affairs along with securities and litigation, legal consultation and business operations, according to an announcement on Monday. 

Gonzalez, who was not immediately available for comment, begins his new job later this month, according to a CNA representative. He succeeds former CNA general counsel Scott Louis Weber, who joined DLA Piper as a partner in June. 

CNA offers standard and specialized property and casualty insurance products and services for businesses and professionals in the U.S., Canada and Europe. The firm has more than $45 billion in assets.

Gonzalez arrives at CNA after having served for more than five years as the New York-based chief legal officer for commercial insurer QBE North America, where he led a nearly 60-member team focused on legal, regulatory and compliance matters. He also was a member of the firm's executive committee and global leadership team.

At CNA, Gonzalez will report to chairman and CEO Dino Robusto, who said in a statement that his new top lawyer has “an impressive and expansive background in insurance law with more than two decades of in-house and private practice experience for a diverse set of global organizations.”

Before QBE, Gonzalez served as the London-based global general counsel of Torus, now known as Starstone Insurance, after having spent more than a decade in various in-house leadership roles at American International Group Inc., or AIG, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Earlier in his career, Gonzalez had a stint as a management associate for Citicorp and as an associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University School of Law. 

Gonzalez wrote in March for Global Leaders in Law that “effectively leading teams through change has been a key element to my success as a general counsel.”

“Luckily for me, starting my career as a transactional lawyer meant I was always in the middle of change,” he added. “Whether it was a merger, an acquisition, or an IPO, these transactions were always transformative for all the parties involved; a new chapter in the evolution of these organizations.”

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