People and Places
ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operations of the ACE Group of Cos., appointed Mark Benson to senior vice president, 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’ comp and middle market workers’ comp 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’ comp for SAFECO Insurance Group in Seattle, 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, Regional Operations with overall responsibility for managing U.S. regional retail operations for ACE USA’s miscellaneous professional liability errors and omissions (E&O) product line, including marketing and underwriting operations.
ACE USA Professional Risk is the operating unit within ACE USA, which distributes management liability, professional liability and professional liability programs through retail brokers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Lambert brings more than 17 years of insurance experience to ACE USA. He joins the company from American International Group.
Skywire Software, which counts among its customers leading insurance carriers and MGAs throughout the U.S., promoted Karl Schultz to the position of chief information officer. He most recently served on the company’s senior vice president, Software Development.
In his new position Schultz will be responsible for leading the development of the company’s products, delivering on successful customer engagements, and overseeing the company’s information technology operations.
GE ERC announced a new appointment aimed at strengthening its connection
with customers. GE’s Employers Reinsurance Corp. is a company that protects lives, property and reputations. ERC serves clients with reinsurance and commercial insurance and other risk management services.
GE Global Asset Protection Services (GE GAP Services) appointed Dane Lopes to the position of vice president of sales. Lopes will lead the national and international sales teams for all GE GAP Services customers.
Previously, Lopes served as industrial risk insurers’ portfolio leader of the Metro New York and Mid-Atlantic Region.
Charles Symington Jr. is the new head of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America’s (IIABA) federal government affairs program.
Symington comes to the Association from the House Financial Services Committee, where he served as a senior counsel for the majority and focused on insurance issues, including congressional efforts to assess state insurance regulation. Symington has served on the Financial Services Committee staff since its inception at the start of the 107th Congress in 2001.
During his time with the Financial Services Committee, Symington actively was involved in drafting the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, the Financial Services Anti-Fraud bill, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, and other legislative proposals.
IIABA also announced the promotions of Wes Bissett to senior vice president of government affairs and state relations, and Justin Roth to vice president of government affairs.
Atlanta-based Crawford & Co. recently announced that Kerwin Williams, Donald Gray, and Cathy Gordon joined the company and will assume several key roles in the organization.
Williams, an insurance veteran who joins Crawford after serving the industry for more than 16 years, has been appointed as vice president and national sales manager for the company’s Risk Management Services (RMS) division. Williams will be responsible for growing Crawford’s client base through developing market-driven and consultative services.
Gray, who joins Crawford as vice president of RMS operations, has nearly 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. He will be responsible for the operations of all RMS branches and will strengthen Crawford’s industry standing by improving claims handling quality and client service.
Gordon, who returns to Crawford after a two-year departure, has been appointed as vice president of sales for Crawford’s Healthcare Management (HCM) service division. In this role, Gordon is responsible for growing revenue and market share by increasing Crawford’s exposure and building relationships with clients.
Randall Zeller, CFA and president of Asset Allocation & Management Co., (AAM) will be assuming the role of chairman of the AAM Board of Directors, effective April 30.
As chairman, he will continue to be involved in the future direction of AAM, as well as, maintain a strong ongoing working relationship with AAM employees, clients and owners. Zeller joined AAM in early 2002 as president and COO and was responsible for the operational activities of AAM including sales and marketing, human resources, compliance and related areas.
Since joining AAM, Zeller formalized many operational and financial processes, improved staffing of the sales and marketing team, implemented compliance procedures and worked directly with many of the firm’s current and prospective clients.
AAM is an investment management firm that specializes in asset management for insurance companies.