PEMBROKE, Bermuda, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, Ltd announced today that Allied World U.S.' Nicole Baummer, Assistant Vice President for Private/Not-for-Profit & Governmental Claims and Marjorie Thompson, Vice President, Professional Lines Claims, will be speaking at this year's Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) international conference, to be held in Chicago, Illinois, November 11-13, 2009.

PLUS is a not-for-profit organization with membership open to persons interested in the promotion and development of the professional liability industry. Membership consists of over 6,000 individuals, representing over 1,000 companies active in the many fields of professional liability. Ms. Thompson will participate on a panel entitled "Surveying and Surviving the Wreckage Below: All About Excess," on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 10 am. Ms. Baummer will participate on a panel entitled "I Can't Get Them to Settle," on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 3:30 pm.

As Assistant Vice President for Private/Not-for-Profit & Governmental Claims in the U.S., Ms. Baummer manages a team of senior claims analysts who are responsible for handling the company's EPLI, governmental liability, and private and not-for-profit directors and officers claims. Before joining Allied World, Ms. Baummer was a senior claims officer at Chubb Specialty Insurance, where she managed high severity EPLI claims nationwide, and she also practiced as a management-side labor and employment attorney with Pepe & Hazard LLP in Hartford, Connecticut. Ms. Baummer earned her B.A. at the University of Connecticut and her J.D. at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where she also served as Managing Editor of the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal. She is a member of the bar in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York.

As Vice President, Professional Lines Claims, Ms. Thompson is a senior manager within the professional liability claims unit of Allied World. Prior to joining Allied World in 2003, she was a Complex Claims Director in the Commercial Directors & Officers Claims unit of National Union. Ms. Thompson also worked as an associate at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae and as an attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Civil and Criminal Divisions. She has been a panel member at the PLUS Bermuda Perspective Symposium, and has lectured at the Bermuda Insurance Institute. Ms. Thompson received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1992 and her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College in 1988.

About Allied World Assurance Company

Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, Ltd, through its subsidiaries, is a global provider of innovative property, casualty and specialty insurance and reinsurance solutions, offering superior client service through offices in Bermuda, the United States, Europe and Hong Kong. Our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries are rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best Company. For further information on Allied World, please visit our website at www.awac.com.

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Any forward-looking statements made in this press release reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. For example, our forward-looking statements could be affected by the ability to recognize the benefits of the Darwin Professional Underwriters, Inc. acquisition; pricing and policy term trends; increased competition; the impact of acts of terrorism and acts of war; greater frequency or severity of unpredictable catastrophic events; investigations of market practices and related settlement terms; negative rating agency actions; the adequacy of our loss reserves; the company or its subsidiaries becoming subject to significant income taxes in the United States or elsewhere; changes in regulations or tax laws; changes in the availability, cost or quality of reinsurance or retrocessional coverage; adverse general economic conditions including those related to the ongoing financial crisis; and judicial, legislative, political and other governmental developments, as well as management's response to these factors, and other factors identified in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. We are under no obligation (and expressly disclaim any such obligation) to update or revise any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.