People
Cathy DeCoulaz was recently installed as president of the Alamo Chapter, Society of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, in San Antonio, Texas. DeCoulaz has served the Alamo Chapter on the Board of Directors and in the offices of president-elect, vice president and secretary. She was chairman of the Candidate Development and New Designee committees, and co-authored three research papers for Chapter. She retired from USAA in 2004 after nearly 22 years of service.
Mike Rosell, of St. Paul Travelers; Melinda Bennett, of USAA; Shirley Colyer, of Castle Insurance Agency; and Rob Galbraith, of USAA took oaths of office as president-
elect, vice president, treasurer and secretary respectively.
The Board members include Carol Aslin of USAA; Kathy Blair of USAA; Steve Drawert of USAA; Carol Hensey Marquardt, of Nationwide Insurance; Sue Stallings of USAA; and Randy Garner of USAA.
New Orleans-based Pan-American Life Insurance Company appointed three new executives to its senior management team. Dominick Cortellessa joins the company as senior vice president and chief information officer; Marta Reeves joins as vice president for Corporate Marketing; and Raul Villaverde joins as vice president for International Operations.
As chief information officer, Cortellessa assumes responsibility for helping the company maintain the integrity of its records and systems and the flow of communications during the post-Katrina period and its return to New Orleans.
As vice president for Corporate Marketing, Reeves will lead Pan-American Life’s program to maintain and strengthen communications and sales support to its network of domestic and international insurance agencies and agents, and also to policyholders and the public.
As vice president for International Operations, Villaverde assumes responsibility for coordinating the work of the technical teams that support Pan-American Life’s insurance operations in the U.S. and in “model offices” across Latin America.
Dallas-based insurance claims services company Cunningham Lindsey U.S. announced that former CLUS Vice President Randy Gray has returned to assume the role of regional vice president for the company’s South Central Region. Gray will be based in Dallas.
In addition, CLUS affiliate Cunningham Lindsey Axis appointed Stuart Stromeyer and Vince Milligan to its Houston team. Stromeyer and Milligan bring a combined 50 years’ of professional expertise in the large commercial property claims arena, with a specialization in marine and energy related risks.
Finally, CLUS employee Mike Fox was presented with the Texas Claims Professional of the Year Award for 2005 by the Texas Claims Association. Fox is employed as a supervising adjuster in the CLUS E&S Division in Dallas.
Universal Insurance Holdings of North America added three new members to the Universal Insurance Company of Texas team, based in San Antonio: Kelly McAllen, Shelley Crain and Clayton Lee.
McAllen, agency relations specialist, is strategically involved with agency development and training. Her industry experience includes positions with independent agencies, national carriers and brokerages throughout Texas
Crain, underwriting manager, has full underwriting responsibility for Texas personal lines products; manages policy processing and underwriting; and does financial and market analysis. Her primary role is to communicate changes in underwriting guidelines, rates, rules, and regulations and to provide training to operations.
Lee, marketing manager, is heavily involved in the company’s marketing strategy, including market evaluation, definition, and the appointment, development and management of independent agents throughout the state.
HCC Insurance Holdings Inc., based in Houston, promoted Barry J. Cook to the new position of chief executive of international operations, senior vice president of HCC and a member of the executive management group.
Cook has been chief executive of Rattner Mackenzie Limited (RML) for fourteen years, including the past seven years since it was acquired by HCC. RML is a Lloyd’s broker marketing specialty accident and health, aviation, property and casualty insurance, and reinsurance with offices in London, New York and Bermuda.
HCC’s international operations consist of insurance companies HCC Europe, Houston Casualty Company (London Branch) and DeMontfort Insurance Company; underwriting agencies HCC Diversified Products and HCC Global Financial Products; and Lloyd’s broker Rattner Mackenzie.
The Insurance Council of Texas has awarded $15,000 in academic scholarships to students majoring in insurance and risk management at Baylor University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Texas.
Baylor students receiving $1,000 scholarships are John McCaleb, Robert Alan Meyers, Jr., Jack A. Starks, Jr., Tuyet Luong and Edgar Coronado.
The University of Texas at Austin students receiving $1,000 scholarships are Sofia Shaikh, Neal Piyush Patel, Lauren Leigh Perry, Michael Brandon McPhail and Glenda Su.
The University of North Texas students receiving $1,000 scholarships are Miika Baldwin, Masha Evans, Darin Price, Brian Taylor and Yazmin Villareal.
This is the fourth year that ICT has awarded scholarships to promising young students in Texas. During this time ICT has awarded $65,000 in scholarships to 81 university students.
Companies interested in contacting these scholarship recipients for potential job opportunities or internships are asked to contact Hanna at mhanna@insurancecouncil.org or (512) 444-9611.
To submit information to this department, e-mail ijtexas@insurance
journal.com.