People and Places
Sidney R. Ferenc and Steven M. Menzies were recently elected to new management positions by the board of directors of Applied Underwriters, headquartered in San Francisco. Ferenc assumes the position of chairman of the board, while continuing in his capacity of chief executive officer.
The board also approved the appointment of Menzies as president. Menzies will also remain as chief operating officer. Ferenc and Menzies founded Applied Underwriters in 1994 and have led it through 10 years of profitable growth.
The Baltimore chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) awarded its 2004 Marketing Excellence Award to the Towson, Md.-based Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund (IWIF). Donna Wilson, IWIF’s vice president of communications and corporate services, accepted the award. According to the AMA, the annual Marketing Excellence Award places emphasis on the results of a marketing campaign, not just graphic design and writing. Entries are evaluated based on each company’s strategic marketing plan, advertising and public relations campaign objectives, implementation strategies, creative approaches, adherence to the campaign’s budget, and most importantly, the measurable results achieved by the marketing program.
David Molchan has been appointed as Wells Publishing‘s regional advertising manager for Insurance Journal East. Molchan has extensive experience in business-to-business advertising sales and ad sales management at several trade magazine companies. Most recently, Molchan served as the regional sales manager for the eastern U.S. at Lightwave Magazine, published by Pennwell Publishing. Prior to that, he spent more than 10 years serving first as a regional sales manager, and then advancing to the position of national sales manager for Electronic Component News, published by Chilton Publishing and Cahners Publishing, respectively. In his new position at Wells Publishing, Molchan will work closely with Insurance Journal‘s current advertisers, as well as prospective advertisers, in the East region.
The Concord Group Insurance Companies of Concord N.H. announced a variety of officer promotions:
Linda J. Day was elected president and chief operating officer. Day most recently held the positions of senior vice president and treasurer and has been responsible for several business units including, customer service, actuarial, systems and accounting since joining the company in 1967. She is a member of the Association of Mutual Insurance Accountants and a past vice president of Insurance Women of Central New Hampshire.
Warren C. McLean, Jr. has been elected senior vice president and currently holds the position of president of the Peoples Service Insurance Company, a member of the Concord Group since 1993. Previously, McLean held management positions in underwriting and marketing for national insurance companies. He has served on the governing committee of the Automobile Insurers Bureau of Massachusetts, and the Commonwealth of Auto Reinsurers Market Review Committee. He is a past president of the Massachusetts Underwriters Association and the Independent P&C Insurers.
Daniel Rogers, recently joined The Concord Group and has been elected treasurer. Rodgers has a background in finance and auditing and has worked for national companies and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Treasury. He is a governor appointee to the New Hampshire Revenue Consensus Committee, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and an adjunct assistant professor of accounting and economics at several colleges and graduate business schools.
Michael P. Nolan, Jr. has been elected assistant vice president for underwriting. He joined the Concord Group in 1984 and is presently the personal lines underwriting manager. He is a past president of the New Hamshire Association of P&C Underwriters. He currently serves as chairperson of the Maine Automobile Insurance Plan Board of Governors and is a member of the Vermont Automobile Insurance Plan Board of Governors.
Bruce W. Sorrette, began his career with The Concord Group in 1987 as a commercial lines underwriter. He earned his CPCU designated in 1996 and is a past president of the New Hampshire Association of P&C Underwriters. Sorrette later joined the company’s accounting department and is presently the department’s manager. He is currently a committee member of the Association of Mutual Insurance.
Donna L. Donoghue has been elected to assistant vice president for human resources. Donoghue has been with The Concord Group since 1971, most recently serving as human resource director. She is responsible for personnel in The Concord home office and regional offices in Auburn, Maine and Berlin, Vt. She is a member of NAII-American Compensation Association, the Society for Human Resource Management and the Northeast Human Resource Association.
David L. Schaefer, principal and vice president of Virginia-based Armfield, Harrison & Thomas (AH&T) was recently elected to serve TechAssure Association, Inc. as its chairman. Schaefer is the practice leader and founder of AH&T’s technology and management liability practice groups. Schaefer’s expertise for technology companies includes unique property exposures, products liability, electronic errors & omissions, and directors & officers’ liability. He participates in panels across the country and has written many briefs on the evolving and unique exposures that exist for technology applications and how to best manage the risks.
The PMA Insurance Group announced John Burke has been promoted to vice president, eastern and central region claims. He is primarily responsible for leading the day-to-day operations for all insurance claims-related activities in the New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia offices. Burke began his PMA career in 1988 as an account claim representative and was promoted to assistant vice president in 1998 and subsequently assumed responsibility for PMA’s eastern region claims operation in 2001.