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. Ring is also Midwest vice president.

Prior to Wells Publishing, he served as director of business development at ElectroniCast Corp., a market research and market trends conference company specializing in fiberoptic 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 startup team that developed and launched Integrated Communications Design (ICD) Magazine, a spinoff of Lightwave. Prior to Lightwave, Ring held a variety of senior level sales positions with Chilton Publishing over a 10-year period.

Overland Park, Kan.-based GE Employers Reinsurance Corp. (ERC) announced that Dane Lopes is its new vice president of sales. He will lead the national and international sales teams for all GE Global Asset Protection Services customers. Previously, Lopes served as the industrial risk insurer’s portfolio leader in the Metro New York and Mid-Atlantic region.

ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operations of the ACE Group of Cos., appointed Mark Benson as its senior vice president of workers’ compensation for ACE Casualty Risk.

Benson will serve as the senior underwriting officer of workers’ comp insurance for ACE Casualty Risk. He will be responsible for managing the underwriting strategies for ACE USA’s Web workers’ compensation and middle-market workers’ compensation businesses, including ACE Complete, a Web-based underwriting facility that enables contracted brokers to conduct underwriting transactions — from entry to issuance — via the Internet.

Benson previously served as director of workers’ compensation for Safeco Insurance Group in Seattle. He was responsible for developing and implementing risk selection and pricing strategy for small and middle market businesses, including online distribution.

Ace USA Professional Risk, a part of Ace Diversified Risk, announced the appointment of Scott Lambert as vice president of regional operations with overall responsibility for managing U.S. regional retail operations for ACE USA’s miscellaneous professional liability errors and omissions product line, including marketing and underwriting operations. Lambert brings more than 17 years of insurance experience to ACE USA. He joins the company from American International Group.

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 for a worldwide client base in the London market. He continued with Heath Lambert in Miami, where he utilized both his multi-lingual and reinsurance skills as a property facultative reinsurance intermediary focused on clients based in the Caribbean, and in Central and South America, building up an extensive knowledge of the region.

Sheboygan, Wis.-based insurer Acuity announced five promotions in its marketing department.

Lisa Lillesand has been named director of personal lines marketing. Lillesand joined Acuity in 1988 as a marketing products analyst. She has also held the positions of implementation analyst at three levels.

Bob Hertel has been named director of personal lines product development. Hertel joined Acuity’s staff in September 1975 as a personal lines underwriter. In 1976, he became a rates and forms analyst. He was promoted to marketing project director in 1987, and personal lines product manager in January of this year.

Jim Strandberg has been named director of commercial lines marketing. Strandberg has been with Acuity since 1984 when he joined the company as a commercial lines underwriter. In 1986, he transferred to marketing as an analyst. He earned promotions to two higher levels as marketing analyst and then as products director, his most recent position.

Mike Moegenburg has been named director of product development of commercial lines. Moegenburg, a 23-year veteran of Acuity, began his career as a commercial lines underwriter. Later, he was promoted to positions of increasing responsibility in the marketing department, including product analyst, marketing analyst and, most recently, commercial lines product manager.

Chris Matysik has been named director of regulatory affairs. He has been with Acuity since 1988. She has been in the marketing department for her entire career, serving at various levels of the marketing analyst position. Most recently she had was the director of implementation.

Acuity operates in 11 Midwestern states.