People and Places

Insurance Journal announced the promotion of Alan M. Ring to the position of vice president of sales and marketing. Ring joined Wells Publishing, publisher of Insurance Journal magazine and Insurance Journal Online, in February 2002 as a member of the advertising sales staff, expanding his role to vice president of business development in mid-2003. Prior to Wells Publishing, he served as director of business development at ElectroniCast Corporation, a market research and market trends conference company specializing in fiber optic component consumption forecasting. Ring also served as the editor of the ElectroniCast Photonics Newsletter, and helped market and manage a variety of ElectroniCast conference events.

Previous experience includes serving as U.S. western regional manager and director, Asia/Pacific at PennWell Publishing’s LIGHTWAVE Magazine, where he was on the start-up team that developed and launched Integrated Communications Design Magazine, a spin-off of LIGHTWAVE. Prior to LIGHTWAVE, Ring held a variety of senior level sales positions with Chilton Publishing over a 10-year period.

Acordia RE announced two new appointments for its Lawrenceville, N.J., headquarters. Rick Cassell is the new vice president in charge of reinsurance accounting, and Jason Witthun has been named account executive. Cassell has 18 years of reinsurance experience. Most recently he was with Maiden Lane in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., where he specialized in treaty clients, negotiating lead terms and new business. He began his career with Towers Perrin Reinsurance and subsequently worked with international broker Benfield Blanch.

Witthun most recently worked for American E&S, Acordia’s excess and surplus lines division, based in the Florida office where he focused on catastrophe driven property accounts. He began his insurance and reinsurance career in London, with Heath Lambert in 2000 as a broker at Lloyd’s. He brokered various classes of wholesale and reinsurance business in the London market. He continued with Heath Lambert in Miami, as a property facultative reinsurance intermediary focused on clients based in the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Scott Lambert has been named vice president for ACE USA’s miscellaneous professional liability errors and omissions (E&O) product line, including marketing and underwriting operations. He assumes overall responsibility for managing U.S. regional retail operations of ACE USA Professional Risk, a part of ACE Diversified Risk. Lambert joins Brad Gow, vice president for technology E&O product management and Paul Dietrich, assistant vice president, architects & engineers product management, to form ACE USA Professional Risk’s new Philadelphia regional errors and omissions underwriting team.

Lambert brings more than 17 years of insurance experience to ACE USA. He joins the company from American International Group, where he spent 10 years, most recently serving as assistant vice president, Eastern Zone Manager, with responsibility for managing the East Coast and Canadian professional liability regional operations for National Union. He has underwriting experience in professional liability, Internet and technology exposures. He also spent several years in claims management, including overseeing a litigation unit.

ACE USA Professional Risk is the operating unit within ACE USA which distributes management, professional and professional liability programs through retail brokers.

The PMA Insurance Group, based in Blue Bell, Pa., announced that Barbara L. Sutherland has been promoted to senior vice president and secretary- general counsel, responsible for managing PMA’s legal function, including PMA’s home office legal department and field litigation staff and representing the company to regulatory and legislative entities.

Sutherland joined PMA in August 2002 as vice president and secretary- general counsel. She has more than 20 years of legal and regulatory compliance experience in the insurance industry. She had spent 18 years with Northland Insurance Companies where her most recent position was vice president and secretary-general counsel. Among her responsibilities were performing corporate secretary functions, managing the corporate legal department, negotiating corporate contracts and providing corporate risk management services. From 1980 to 1984, she was a senior litigation specialist with Cigna.

The Workers’ Comp Certified Professional (WCCP) award is presented annually by the American Society of Workers’ Compensation Professionals (AMCOMP) to individuals who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to the workers’ compensation industry. The 2004 honorees are Carole Banfield, vice president, Insurance Services Office (ISO); Kenneth Ross, executive director and CEO, New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF); and Dr. Michael Stinziano, vice president, Benfield.

Banfield has more than 30 years of experience in the property/casualty industry and has taken a leadership position in data management and government relations for ISO. Banfield is well known for her involvement in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

Stinziano is vice president of Benfield. He has extensive experience in the governmental arena and specializes in reinsurance administration, workers’ compensation, and terrorism risk insurance issues.

Ross is executive director and CEO of The New York State Insurance Fund. He has a wealth of knowledge of workers’ compensation and has more than 30 years of experience in the field. Most recently, Ross was recognized for his achievements by the New York Claim Association.

Since it was founded, AMCOMP has dedicated itself to the development of higher educational standards for professionals in the field of workers’ compensation. In 2001 with the introduction of the AMCOMP Workers’ Compensation Certified Professional designation.

Kurt C. Bingeman, owner and president of Russell Bond & Co. Inc., a regional excess and surplus insurance managing general agent based in Buffalo, N.Y., is the 2004 recipient of the Insurance Women of Buffalo‘s Employer of the Year award. The award recognizes service and contribution to the insurance industry and the community.

Upon accepting the award, Bingeman stressed the quality of the people at Russell Bond and noted the firm’s commitment to education and the insurance community.