QBE has appointed former Swiss Re Americas CEO Eric Smith and US-based technology entrepreneur Tan Le as non-executive directors.

Mr Smith, who is also based in the US, retired from Swiss Re this year. He has more than 40 years’ experience in insurance and financial services.

Previously he was USAA Life Insurance president and Allstate Financial Services president, and worked in various roles in property and casualty insurance with Country Financial for more than 20 years.

Ms Le is founder and CEO of Emotiv, a “neuro-informatics” company that uses large-scale brain data to build machine learning models and enhance understanding of the brain, and previously founded wireless tech company SASme.

She has served on World Economic Forum boards including the Global Future Council on Technology for Mental Health.

QBE Chairman Mike Wilkins says Ms Le will bring invaluable insight and perspective as the group accelerates its digital transformation and builds its AI capabilities, while Mr Smith will “further deepen the board’s insurance expertise”.

The appointments take effect on September 1.