People and Places

The Board of Directors of the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation (LWCC) promoted Kristin Wall to the position of president and chief operating officer. Wall was previously executive vice president and COO. Steve Cavanaugh remains chief executive officer of the corporation. In making the transition, Wall will be responsible for the overall operations of the company, while Cavanaugh will focus more on developing opportunities to enhance the business.

Wall joined LWCC in 1992 as managing claims attorney. In April 1996 she was promoted to general counsel where she played an integral role in developing legislation for the corporation on a state and federal level. Her efforts were critical to the passage of the federal amendment that clarified LWCC’s tax-exempt status. She became executive vice president and COO in 1998.

Wall earned her Juris Doctorate from LSU Law School and is admitted to practice in both the state and federal courts of Louisiana. She is a member of the Louisiana and Baton Rouge Bar Associations, as well as the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. Wall is a licensed insurance agent for the state of Louisiana and is currently pursuing her CPCU designation. She is also a member of Rotary International.

Tulsa, Okla.-based Team Insurance Group reported that Paul C. Fredette joined the organization as executive vice president. The company noted that Fredette’s hiring marks another move forward in Team’s strategy for growth and expansion in the market.

Fredette will be heavily involved in the acquisition of insurance agencies, as well as the recruitment of established agents and the purchase of their books of business. As part of this initiative, Team will partner with its parent company, TeamBank N.A., a member of Team Financial Inc., a $640 million, publicly traded financial services company.

Before joining Team, Fredette served as a partner with International Insurance Brokers Ltd., a professional risk management and insurance brokerage firm. Prior to that he served as a vice president for Arthur J. Gallagher, a risk and insurance services firm. He has also served as a vice president for Marsh Inc.

Dallas-based Capstone Underwriters announced two promotions within the organization. Paul Hartley advanced to the position of vice president of underwriting and Kevin Heard was named vice president of production.

Hartley will be responsible for coordinating all property and casualty underwriting. He has been a senior underwriter with Capstone for three years.

Heard, in addition to his duties as underwriter, will streamline the underwriting process and facilitate the work of the individual marketing underwriters. He joined Capstone in 2003 and has been a senior underwriter for one and a half years.

Mandeville, La.-based FARA appointed Eric Knudsen as national sales manager. In this position, Knudsen is responsible for developing business for the company with brokers, carriers and self-insured entities. Knudsen spent the last sixteen years in sales management with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Recently he served as regional sales manager for Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma, where he directed all commercial sales operations, including the development and retention of $40 million in property and casualty premium. In this role Knudsen consistently exceeded customer retention goals each year. He previously served Liberty Mutual as the customer market manager and business sales manager for the north Texas region.

Arch Insurance Group, a division of Arch Capital Group Ltd., promoted Debbie Landes to the position of regional vice president of its Technical Risk Division in Houston, Texas. In her new role, Landes will oversee underwriting activities of the Technical Risk business for Arch’s central region, with responsibilities for profitability and production. Landes is based in Houston and reports to Bill Palmer, executive vice president, central region, and Jerry Wosleger, senior vice president, Technical Risk.

Landes has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry and joined Arch as an assistant vice president, in the Technical Risk Property division of the central region in June 2003.

Prior to joining Arch, she was a senior property underwriter for Zurich Global Energy and served as their U.S. home office referral underwriter for Oil, Gas, Chemical and Petrochemical business. She began her insurance career in 1972 with CIGNA Property & Casualty, holding various positions and assignments, with her last 10 years at CIGNA being involved in the underwriting and marketing of global energy property accounts.

Jeffrey H. Skaggs joined the Houston office of Farmington Hills, Mich.-based national specialty insurance wholesaler, underwriter and managing general agent Burns & Wilcox Ltd., in the position of branch manager. As branch manager, Skaggs is responsible for directing the overall operations of the company’s Houston branch. Prior to joining Burns & Wilcox, he served as underwriting director of CNA Financial in Houston. With an extensive background in the insurance industry, Skaggs has also served as assistant vice president/underwriting director with Ranger Insurance Company and as profit center manager with Reliance Insurance Group, both in Houston. He was also the territorial executive for Zurich-American Insurance in San Antonio.

Crump Insurance Services Inc., a provider of wholesale insurance brokerage services, announced the appointment of Glenn Hargrove as chief operating officer. In this newly created position, Hargrove will have responsibility for day-to-day operations of Crump’s 17 offices in the U.S.

Hargrove, joined the Crump organization in 1997 as a broker in the Houston office. In 2002 he was promoted to office head for Crump’s Memphis office. He will split his time between Dallas and Memphis where he will continue to manage branch operations.

Prior to joining Crump he served as an officer and broker for two other Excess & Surplus Lines brokerage firms. During his 18 years in insurance he has managed casualty and specialty programs, including London contracts, and oil and gas facilities.

A risk management veteran in the oil and gas industry, Hargrove was a partner in several oil and gas service businesses in Texas, before entering the insurance industry.

The Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission approved the appointment of eight individuals to the Medical Advisory Committee. Six individuals were reappointed to a second term and two to a first term.

The appointments to the Medical Advisory Committee are: David L. Gude, M.D., San Antonio – Committee Chair and Medical Doctor (Primary); Barbara A. Wilson, M.D., Amarillo – Medical Doctor (Alternate); Darin Deaton, Roanoke – Physical Therapist (Primary); Robert E. Vaughn, Grapevine – Physical Therapist (Alternate); Rosemary Gammon, Plano – Medical Equipment Supplier (Primary); Thomas P. Hughes, Austin – Medical Equipment Supplier (Alternate); Barbara J. Robinson, Austin – Employee (Primary); and Marsie L. DeOliveira, Austin – General Public (Primary).

Crawford & Company announced that its board of directors has named Thomas W. Crawford as chief executive officer.

Jesse C. Crawford will continue to serve the company as interim chairman of the board.

Tom Crawford has more than 40 years of experience in the insurance industry. Most recently, he served as president of Prudential Insurance Company of America’s Retail Distribution division and as chairman of its Property and Casualty division. Prior to joining Prudential, he was founder and chairman of Southern Heritage Insurance Company, which was sold to GEICO in 1991. He has also served in senior positions at CNA Insurance Company and Allstate Insurance Company.

Tom Crawford is not related to the Crawford family that founded the company more than 60 years ago.

Jupiter, Fla.-based Weiss Ratings Inc. announced that Bruce R. Fador is joining the company as president and CEO. Between 1992 and 1998, Fador was president and CEO of Thomson First Call, which distributes research to Wall Street, where he created several new products and business units and was instrumental in the growth of the company’s global, on-line distribution network for financial research.

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) named Bart Anderson as senior vice president of member services and communications. Anderson brings more than 16 years of insurance management experience to his new position. His insurance experience includes positions with Conseco Services LLC, in Carmel, Calif., GRE Insurance Group, also in Carmel, AIG Specialty Auto and AiNetwork, and Progressive Corporation. Immediately prior to joining NAMIC, Anderson served as the director of Nursing Knowledge International (NKI).