People and Places

Preferred Professional Insurance Co., an Omaha-based medical liability insurance firm, announced the addition of Denise A. Hill, as vice president, general counsel and corporate compliance officer. In her new capacity, Hill will lead PPIC’s federal, state, and local regulatory compliance activities while establishing a centralized compliance department.

Hill was previously employed by Homestate Companies, a Berkshire Hathaway property-casualty insurance company domiciled in Nebraska. Additional past positions include claims attorney at Empire Fire & Marine Insurance Co.; deputy county attorney in the Civil Division of the Douglas County Attorney’s Office; and assistant city attorney in the Civil Division of the City of Omaha Law Department. She is also a past president of the Omaha Bar Association.

PPIC specializes in medical liability insurance for physicians associated with its nationwide network of Catholic health care owner systems.

Susan E. Haack, president of Iowa Mutual Insurance Co. in DeWitt, Iowa, has been chosen to succeed Thomas C. Ogg, as secretary of the companies of The Motorists Insurance Group headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Ogg currently plans to retire in 2009.

Haack began her career with Iowa Mutual as an accounting clerk in 1990 and has held the positions of vice president of Accounting, senior vice president, and executive vice president. In addition to her responsibilities at Iowa Mutual, she is a volunteer business consultant for Junior Achievement and serves as treasurer at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Mount, Iowa.

Ultimately succeeding Haack as president at Iowa Mutual will be Thomas R. Cole, currently senior vice president of marketing and claims. Cole began his career with Motorists Mutual Insurance Co., the lead organization in the group, in 1977 as a claims adjuster. He has held several positions within the company, including claims branch manager in Cincinnati and Akron, claims west zone manager, and marketing zone sales manager. The Ohio native was named to his current position in 2003.

Iowa Mutual is an affiliate of The Motorists Insurance Group. The group of companies is composed of nine property and casualty, life and brokerage companies that operate in 35 states.

Managing General Agency J.M. Wilson added Wendy Loveless as manager in its Personal Lines department inits Portage, Mich., location. Loveless will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Personal Lines department, and serve the needs of customers in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Loveless comes to J.M. Wilson with 12 years of experience working in the insurance industry. She worked for Affirmative Insurance Co. in sales and marketing. She was also actively involved in the start up and development of a Michigan domiciled, agent owned insurance company, Great Lakes Casualty Insurance Co.

Burns & Wilcox reported that Laura Vultaggio has joined the company as director of corporate communications. Vultaggio is responsible for internal and external communications, including media relations, branding and executive communications. A 15-year veteran in the communications field, Vultaggio is filling a new position for the company.

Most recently Vultaggio was manager of corporate communications at Visteon Corp., where she was responsible for the company’s internal and executive communications. Before joining Visteon, Vultaggio was the Web communications manager at Federal-Mogul responsible for developing the company’s internal and external Web strategy as well as serving as media liaison.

The Des Plaines,Ill.-based Property Casualty Insurers Association of America has expanded its federal advocacy capabilities by hiring Kate Prible as director, federal government affairs in its Washington D.C. office. Prible comes to PCI after six years as director, federal legislative affairs with the Credit Union National Association. Previously, she worked in the House of Representatives for almost three years, serving Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nevada, and then-Rep. John LaFalce, D-N.Y.

In her time at CUNA, Prible engaged in legislative advocacy with members of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee on issues involving regulation, data security and small business and Hurricane Katrina relief efforts for credit unions, among others. Additionally, she traveled to state association conferences to brief members on key legislative issues and represented CUNA at various conferences, fundraisers and other political events.

Amy E. Strati has joined Baker & Daniels LLP as counsel, practicing with the firm’s insurance and financial services group. She will concentrate on the area of insurance regulatory law. Strati joins Baker & Daniels from the Indiana Department of Insurance where she served in a variety of capacities, most recently as chief counsel. She was appointed acting insurance commissioner for the Department by Gov. Joe Kernan in 2004 and was tasked with overseeing and managing the agency staff of 75 employees and a budget of $8.2 million.

Kaufman Financial Group/Burns & Wilcox has anounced that Christopher Zoidis has joined the company as director of corporate development.In this newly crated position, Zoidis will focus on acquisitions and new business opportunities.

Most recently, he served as senior manager in the insurance consulting practice at Deloitte Consulting LLP, where he provided consulting services to insurance clients in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, operations improvement, and organizational redesign.

In addition to identifying and pursuing potential acquisitions, Zoidis will execute financial performance improvement initiatives and evaluate new business opportunities for Burns & Wilcox. As director of corporate development, he will focus on identifying opportunities to increase Kaufman Financial Group/Burns & Wilcox presence, competitiveness and financial performance.