RenaissanceRe Holdings Announces Management Appointments; Kevin O'Donnell Promoted to President of Reinsurance Subsidiary; Ian Branagan to Head Group Risk Modeling

RenaissanceRe Holdings announced today that Kevin J.O'Donnell has been promoted to President of its RenaissanceReinsurance Ltd. subsidiary. In his role, Mr. O'Donnell, 38, will addto his current responsibilities for the Company's CatastropheReinsurance lines the oversight of the Company's Specialty lines ofbusiness. Mr. O'Donnell will maintain his current position as SeniorVice President of the parent company, and will report to Neill A.Currie, Chief Executive Officer. Renaissance Reinsurance Ltd. accountsfor over half of the Company's gross written premium.

Ian Branagan, currently Managing Director of RenaissanceRe ofEurope in Dublin, will be relocating to Bermuda in January 2006 tobecome head of Group Risk Modeling. Mr. Branagan, 37, has led theCompany's Dublin-based European operations since joining the firm in1998. In his expanded role, Mr. Branagan will report to William I.Riker, who has overall responsibility for enterprise-wide modeling andunderwriting. The Dublin office will be managed by Ian Britchfield whohas served as its financial controller.

"We are pleased to welcome both Kevin and Ian to their new roles,"said Mr. Currie. He added, "Kevin is a talented executive andunderwriter who has played a key role in building and maintaining theglobal leadership position we enjoy in catastrophe reinsurance. He hasearned the respect of his colleagues and the market, and we believehis expertise will augment that which already exists in the Specialtyoperation as we continue to focus on expanding that book of businessand maintaining our global leadership in catastrophe reinsurance. Wealso look forward to bringing Ian's expertise to a role that will haveimpact across all our business, and will support our efforts to assurethat our modeling remains the industry standard bearer and keeps pacewith the changing nature of the risks and opportunities throughout ourworld. Ian will also continue be active in marketing and underwritingas a member of the reinsurance underwriting team. In his new position,Ian will work closely with Bill Riker, who, we are pleased to report,has recovered his health and is back full-time overseeing underwritingactivities across all of our businesses."

Mr. O'Donnell joined the Renaissance team in 1996, and isresponsible for leading the Property Catastrophe Underwriting andCeded Reinsurance business for the Renaissance group of companies. Hehas over 15 years of insurance and reinsurance experience, includingalternative markets, catastrophe underwriting and insurancederivatives and securitization. Prior to joining Renaissance, Mr.O'Donnell was a Vice President of Centre Financial Products, Ltd.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from HamiltonCollege and an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New YorkUniversity.

Mr. Branagan joined the Renaissance team in 1998, to head upRenaissance of Europe in Dublin. In addition to reinsuranceunderwriting and marketing, primarily in Europe, he leads the internalProperty Risk Modeling team for RenaissanceRe. He has 14 years ofinsurance and reinsurance experience covering probabilistic riskmodeling and catastrophe underwriting, among other things. Prior tojoining RenaissanceRe, Mr. Branagan was head of European operationsfor Applied Insurance Research Inc. He holds a Bachelor of Sciencedegree in Economics and European studies from Manchester Polytechnic.

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. is a global provider of reinsuranceand insurance. Our business consists of two segments: (1) Reinsurance,which includes catastrophe reinsurance, specialty reinsurance andcertain joint ventures and other investments managed by our subsidiaryRenaissanceRe Ventures Ltd., and (2) Individual Risk business, whichincludes primary insurance.

Cautionary Statement under "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements made in this newsrelease contain information about the Company's future businessprospects. These statements may be considered "forward-looking." Thesestatements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could causeactual results to differ materially from those set forth in or impliedby such forward-looking statements. For further information regardingcautionary statements and factors affecting future results, pleaserefer to RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd.'s filings with the Securities andExchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for theyear ended December 31, 2004.