Michael Sean McGavick (born February 7, 1958) is an American business executive and a graduate of the University of Washington. McGavick was the Republican nominee for the US Senate seat held by Maria Cantwell in the 2006 election, but Cantwell retained her seat. In March 2008, global insurance company XL Group plc () – formerly XL Capital Ltd prior to officially changing its name and domicile in 2010 – announced that McGavick would take over as CEO beginning on May 1, 2008. With 4,000 employees, XL Group headquartered in Bermuda and Stamford, Connecticut, and about 60 offices in more than 20 countries. Career McGavick is the CEO of Ireland-based XL Group plc, and former chairman/president/CEO of the insurance company Safeco. McGavick has been recognized as the Bermuda Insurance Institute's (Re)insurance Person of the Year, the Review Magazine's Industry Personality of the Year and Reactions Magazine's Insurance CEO of the Year. He is currently the Chairman of the Association of Bermuda Insurers & Reinsurers, The Geneva Association, and of the Global Reinsurance Forum. He served as chief of staff to U.S. Senator Slade Gorton and manager of Gorton's campaign in 1988. He later served as director of the American Insurance Association's Superfund Improvement Project in Washington, D.C., where he was the American Insurance Association's lead negotiator in working to transform the nation's Superfund environmental laws. He was also a staff member of the Seattle-based Washington Roundtable, a non-partisan policy research group composed of the chief executive officers of the state's largest corporations. McGavick was senior financial officer for Continental Casualty Company (CNA)'s Commercial Lines Group, vice president of CNA's New Ventures group, and president and chief operating officer of CNA's largest operating department. The department, with $3.5 billion in annual revenues, provided the majority of CNA's commercial insurance products. It also was responsible for managing CNA's relationship with its independent agent distribution system. Safeco McGavick was named "CEO of the Year" by the Puget Sound Business Journal in 2002. On July 18, 2005, McGavick announced that effective August 31 he would step down as CEO of Safeco, but would remain on as chairman until the end of 2005. McGavick explained that he expected "to give full consideration to the possibility of public service". On July 19, 2005, McGavick announced that he was forming an exploratory committee for a 2006 bid for the Washington United States Senate seat held by Maria Cantwell.