QBE has appointed Woolworths executive Peter Horton as Group General Counsel and Company Secretary.

Mr Horton starts in his new role on June 9, replacing Duncan Ramsay, who will leave QBE on June 30 after 21 years as general counsel.

A QBE spokesman declined to say whether Mr Ramsay is leaving voluntarily.

Mr Horton joined Woolworths in 2005 as group general counsel and company secretary. He has also worked as the legal head of miner WMC Resources and as principal solicitor at BHP.

“We are delighted to have someone of Peter’s calibre join our executive team,” QBE Group CEO John Neal said.

“Peter’s understanding of the regulatory environment and his proven leadership ability in a multinational company will be a great addition to QBE.”

Last year Mr Horton’s department at Woolworths was named legal team of the year in the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association in-house lawyer awards.

It’s understood Mr Ramsay is a director or secretary of a number of QBE-controlled entities, and also acts as chairman of the policy committee and as trustee of QBE-sponsored super plans in Australia and New Zealand.

The QBE spokesman could not say whether Mr Horton would take over these positions.

“All I can do is confirm that Duncan will be leaving QBE,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “In terms of board memberships of these various internal companies, I don’t know whether those issues have been sorted out yet.”