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 (ICD) Magazine, a spin-off of LIGHTWAVE.
Vista Insurance Partners, a wholesale insurance broker headquartered in San Antonio, named Russell Shultz as vice president of marketing to lead the expansion of its Select Agent Program. Shults has more than 13 years experience as an insurance executive and broker in commercial and personal lines. In his new position he will be responsible for building agent relationships and communicating Vista’s programs and brokerage capabilities. Since joining Vista one year ago, Shults has been handling excess and surplus placements for independent insurance agencies. Prior to joining Vista, Shults was senior vice president for a managing general agency in Austin. He has experience as a wholesale E&S broker, underwriter and marketing representative for several Texas insurance agencies.
Southwest Business Corporation (SWBC), a San Antonio-based insurance and financial services provider, named David Horne as executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Horne has more than 20 years of executive experience in organizational development, human resources management, support services, and administration.
Sharla J. Martin joined the Dallas branch office of Western Security Surplus Insurance Brokers as a property/casualty underwriter with an emphasis on brokering
commercial accounts. Martin began her career in 1977 with Employers Casualty Company. She continued to round out her experience by working on the retail side as a customer service representative and eventually moved into a senior account
management position. Most of her career, however, has been
concentrated in the wholesale brokerage side. Martin was previously with another large wholesaler as senior account executive responsible for commercial property and casualty production.
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. 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 promoted Wes Bissett to senior vice president of government affairs and state relations, and Justin Roth to vice president of government affairs.
The Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association (TAIPA) has elected new officers for 2004-2005.
The Governing Committee elected Jon Smanz, director, shared markets governance for Allstate Insurance Company in Northbrook, Ill., as the Association’s chairman. Smanz has been with Allstate since 1970 and served in a variety of positions including claims management, residual markets and underwriting. He has chaired auto
residual market plans in New York, New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware, and
western association Plans.
Others elected were Brad Duelks, AVP personal lines-corporate underwriting, The Republic Group, Dallas, first vice chairman; Bill Jeter, president and CEO, Boys and Girls Harbor Inc., Houston, second vice chairman; and Terry Mack, underwriting consultant
residual markets, State Farm Insurance Companies, Bloomington, Ill., secretary-treasurer.
The Combined Group has added Stephen Squires to its marketing staff. He will be responsible for agent marketing activities in the Houston area. Squires has been in the insurance industry for over 26 years and brings a diverse background in risk control, risk management, claims and marketing of multi-line commercial products to Combined’s Houston agents. He has held mid- and senior management positions with Kemper, Bico, Superior National and Cresta Insurance Services.
Dickinson, Texas-based MaximInsurance announced that after 42 years in insurance and more than 28 years at MaximInsurance, Dorothy “Dot” Warner is retiring. Warner is an insurance veteran who served as a customer service representative (CSR) for commercial accounts, working with both new and long-standing agency customers. Over the years, she also has trained and led other CSRs on the MaximInsurance team. Warner started her career in 1962 in the inland marine department at Travelers Insurance in Jacksonville, Fla., where she later served as a commercial lines rater. Prior to joining MaximInsurance, she held positions with Traveler’s Insurance in Orlando, Fla., and Guaranty Savings and Loan in Galveston, Texas.