People & Places

New Orleans-based Pan-American Life Insurance Company announced the election of José S. Suquet as president, chief executive officer and member of the Board of Directors.

John J. Kelly, chairman of the Board, has served as interim president and chief executive officer. Kelly will continue as chairman of the Board.

Suquet has held senior management posts in the insurance industry for more than two decades, including serving as senior executive vice president of AXA Financial. Over the past 25 years, he has served major insurance organizations in management, operations, sales and marketing positions, for both domestic and overseas operations.

In his new post, Suquet will design and implement programs to broaden the company’s presence in the U.S. Hispanic market through worksite marketing and senior market initiatives, as well as guide further expansion in Latin America and in key U.S. markets.

Guaranty Insurance Services Inc., based in Austin, Texas, named Von Breaux executive vice president of Property and Casualty Sales. In addition, the company announced that Nick Grant, also an executive vice president, will head up cross-sell efforts between the agency and the other members of the Guaranty Financial Services family, including Guaranty Bank and parent-company, Temple-Inland.

Breaux comes to Guaranty Insurance from Syracuse, N.Y., where he worked as the director of Sales for Wausau Insurance Companies. He is originally from the Austin area; his mother owned Georgetown Insurance Agency and his father worked for Unitrin for 38 years. Breaux began his career as a commercial lines underwriter and built his job portfolio in insurance marketing and sales management.

Shreveport, La.-based Specialty Risk Associates Inc. announced several new appointments.

Melody Morgan joined Specialty Risk as an accounting specialist. She will be focusing on Accounts Receivable.

Katherine Evans joined the company as the Compliance and Marketing Specialist. Evans will ensure that the agent licenses are kept up to date and will also develop marketing plans for the varied SRA programs.

Brad Wood will specialize as a commercial P/C underwriter. He recently completed a nine-month internship with Scottsdale Insurance Company. Prior to the internship, Wood worked at Sunbelt Special Risks, the Baton Rouge office for SRA.

Harvey Pierce, chairman and chief executive officer of the American Family Insurance Group was elected chairman of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) at its annual meeting.

PCI members also elected Gerald Whitburn, president and chief executive officer of Church Mutual Ins. Co., as first vice chair, and Thomas Tierney, chairman, president and chief executive officer of the Vermont Mutual Insurance Group, as second vice chair.

Catastrophe specialist International Catastrophe Insurance Managers, (ICAT) appointed Rod Smith as vice president of sales and marketing for the eastern seaboard. Smith will be responsible for ICAT’s producer relationships along the East coast. Smith has more than 15 years in the insurance industry, most recently as vice president with National Program Management. Prior to that, Smith was regional vice president at XL Capital and marketing director at AIG.

David Ball, an account executive with McQueary Henry Bowles Troy L.L.P. (MHBT) in Dallas, was recently awarded the Myron F. Steves Scholarship by the Independent Insurance Agents of Dallas (IIAD).

The Myron F. Steves Insurance Professional Scholarship Program awards individuals who are employed by a member agency of the IIAD with annual scholarships to help them complete courses for an industry certification of their choice, such as Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) or Certified Risk Manager (CRM). The applicant must demonstrate a commitment to continued education by being already involved in course work for an insurance designation or by showing a desire to obtain a designation. Myron F. Steves and Company sponsors the scholarship and supports continued education within the insurance industry.

The law firm of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP announced its professional affiliation with former Texas Secretary of State, Commissioner of Insurance and legislator Elton Bomer. Bomer will assist Gardere by providing lobbying services to its clients and will office at Gardere’s Congress Avenue location in Austin, effective Nov. 1, 2004.

Bomer was appointed Texas Secretary of State by then-Gov. George W. Bush in 1999. He had previously been appointed by Bush to serve as Texas Commissioner of Insurance from 1995 to 1999. Bomer also served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1981 to 1985 and 1991 to 1995. Most recently he has focused on lobbying efforts before the Texas Legislature for clients in the insurance, health care and technology industries.

The Austin chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) has named Bill McLellan as Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Year. McLellan is the senior vice president of Texas Mutual Insurance Company’s information technology division. He joined Texas Mutual Insurance Company in 2003.

The Central Texas Chapter of the CPCU Society reported that a number of property and casualty insurance professionals in the Central Texas area have obtained their CPCU designation: Kathy Acord, Chubb Insurance; Valerie Brown, Texas Department of Insurance; Clark Holloway, Farmers Insurance; Michelle Kologinczak, State Farm Ins.; Virginia Robinson, State Farm Ins.; and Cynthia Thurman, Texas Department of Insurance.