As hurricane Irma barreled toward south Florida in early September, Kathleen Reardon gathered her staff to give them something akin to a pep talk. The situation in the Caribbean looked truly frightening that morning, with Irma devastating island chain after island chain with a ferocity that left meteorologists astounded. There was talk, too, that the just-developing Hurricane Jose might turn northward and put Bermuda — the headquarters for Reardon and her team at global reinsurance firm Hamilton Re — in harm’s way as well.