People

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners named its 2007 committee chairs and vice chairs. The new committee assignments are for one year.

International Insurance Relations Committee: Chair Diane Koken, commissioner, Pennsylvania Insurance Department, and Vice Chair Dorelisse Juarbe Jiminez, commissioner, Puerto Rico Department of Insurance.

Health Insurance and Managed Care Committee: Chair Joel Ario, administrator, Oregon Insurance Division, and Vice Chair Kim Holland, commissioner, Oklahoma Insurance Department.

Property and Casualty Insurance Committee: Chair Kevin McCarty, commissioner, Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, and Vice Chair Michael McRaith, director, Illinois Division of Insurance.

Market Regulation and Consumer Affairs Committee: Chair Mike Kreidler, commissioner, Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, and Vice Chair, Julie Benafield Bowman, commissioner, Arkansas Insurance Department.

Financial Regulation Standards and Accreditation Committee: Chair, Joseph Torti III, superintendent, Rhode Island Insurance Division, and Vice Chair Kent Michie, commissioner, Utah Department of Insurance

Boston-based Risk Specialists Cos. Inc., a member company of American International Group Inc. (AIG), has appointed David A. Jordan as chief operating officer. Jordan will continue as a senior vice president of Lexington Insurance Co. In this newly-created position at Risk Specialists Cos., which comprises Lexington’s field organization, and reporting to Matthew F. Power, president of Risk Specialists Companies, Jordan’s broad executive responsibilities will encompass business development and broker relationships, operations and staffing, compliance, marketing and product development.

Prior to joining Risk Specialists, Jordan was senior vice president of Lexington’s Program Division.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America named Cliston Brown as the organization’s director of federal public affairs. Brown comes to PCI after three years with the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America where he served as director of public affairs. Previously, he worked for two years as director of communications for U.S. Rep. Peter J. Visclosky, D-Ind., the current chairman of the Energy and Water Development subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations.

Aon has restructured its Entertainment Group. Aon/Albert G. Ruben, which manages risks associated with all aspects of entertainment, including film and television, is now part of Aon’s Entertainment Group. George Walden has been named Aon/Albert G. Ruben’s new chief executive officer, succeeding Sam Cargill, who assumes the role of group chairman. For the past three decades Walden served as president of Aon/Albert G. Ruben New York.

In addition, Paul Jones and Brian Kingman have been appointed co-managing directors in Ruben’s 88-employee Los Angeles office. Jones focuses on new business development and managing the risks associated with reality television productions. Kingman manages sales and services a variety of motion picture studios and other film and TV production companies.

Aon/Albert G. Ruben President Peter Robey will continue his association with Ruben, focusing on expanding the Ruben brand worldwide. Robey will be based in the U.K.

Pamela B. Carico has joined LMC Capital LLC, based in Charlotte, N.C., as a senior vice president. Previously, Carico was the director of risk management for Springs Industries Inc. and subsequently Springs Global US, Inc. where she managed the insurance program for as many as 15,000 employees and a multi-billion dollar property program.

Answer Financial Inc., an Encino, Calif.-based online insurance agency, has named Richard Goebel senior vice president of marketing.

Most recently, Goebel was the first vice president of new customer acquisitions at Countrywide Home Loans. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, including integrated marketing, advertising, business development and sales. Goebel has also led strategic marketing efforts at E*Trade, Stockton Financial Corp, which he co-founded, NextCard and Lycos Quote.com.

Heffernan Group, a San Francisco-based brokerage, has appointed Blake Thibault as vice president in its San Francisco office and David Sandin as assistant vice president focusing on new business development for commercial insurance in its Portland, Ore., office.

Thibault will be charged with business development and management for retirement and wealth management products and services for businesses and individuals in the Bay Area. Thibault joins Heffernan after a successful wealth advisor career, most recently at Morgan Stanley, where he managed corporate retirement plans and assets for businesses and individuals.

Sandin joins Heffernan with an emphasis in technology, hospitality and construction risks, after a successful career at two other Portland area insurance brokers. He worked for a decade, early in his career, in the high tech industry.

Swett & Crawford, based in Woodland Hills, Calif., has hired Bruce J. Rountree to lead the company’s Phoenix operations. His hiring is part of the company’s strategy to aggressively expand its presence in key markets.

Rountree was mostly recently a vice president for American International Group. Since 1999, he has held management positions with that company, including regional manager for Lexington in San Francisco and American Home. He also has held the position of vice president in charge of the Western Zone for AIG Small Business. In those capacities he managed books of business ranging in size from $75 million to $200 million, including primary and excess lines in transportation, property, professional liability, directors and officers, errors and omissions, energy, umbrellas and reverse flow international.

Prior to his association with AIG, he owned his own retail insurance firm, Risk and Insurance Management Services of Albuquerque, N.M., which he started in 1995 after purchasing his book of business from Alexander and Alexander.