People and Places

Insurance broker Marsh Inc. has appointed Rob McGinnis as the leader of its U.S. Consumer Business, which includes the U.S. operations of the firm’s Affinity, Program, and Private Client Services businesses.

Previously, McGinnis was president and chief executive officer, Life and Group Operations, for CNA Insurance. Earlier, he was with UnitedHealthcare.

Most recently, he founded the McGinnis Group, an insurance consulting firm with several large corporate clients.

Matthew D. Nickerson has been appointed senior vice president and manager of Personal Lines for Liberty Mutual Agency Markets, a business unit of Liberty Mutual Group that distributes products and services primarily through independent agents and brokers. Nickerson will be responsible for personal lines management and development for seven Agency Markets’ regional companies.

Nickerson is a Liberty Mutual veteran who most recently served as president and chief executive officer of Liberty Northwest, based in Portland, Ore. In this capacity, Nickerson oversaw the expansion of personal lines capabilities and built Liberty Northwest into the largest regional property and casualty insurer in the Northwest. Prior to becoming president in 2005, Nickerson was responsible for all Liberty Northwest insurance operations as chief operating officer. He also served as chief executive officer of North Pacific Insurance Co. when it was acquired by Liberty Northwest in 2002.

Since joining Liberty Mutual Group in 1985, he has held the position of vice president and manager of field operations for the claims department in Liberty Mutual’s Personal Market strategic business unit. Prior to that, he held several other senior positions at Liberty Mutual, including regional vice president for the Personal Market Pacific Division and vice president and controller in Risk Services.

Montgomery Insurance, a member of Liberty Mutual Group, has named Nancy Newmister, regional vice president, Charlotte, N.C. Region. In addition to her new appointment, Newmister will continue, in the interim, as corporate underwriting vice president for Montgomery Insurance.

Newmister will be responsible for the profitable growth of personal and commercial lines business and the management of agencies operating in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Prior to joining Montgomery Insurance in November 2002, she was assistant vice president and market segment leader for Harleysville Mutual Insurance Co.

An insurance executive with more than 18 years of experience in commercial and personal coverage lines has joined BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co. as a senior vice president. Jeff Benintendi assumed his duties April 9 at BrickStreet, the Charleston, W. Va.-based private company that provides workers’ compensation coverage to West Virginia employers. He will oversee a strategic business group that includes coal, government and large accounts. Benintendi comes to BrickStreet from Pinnacol Assurance of Denver.

B&B Protector Plans, Inc., a subsidiary of Florida-based insurance brokerage firm Brown & Brown, Inc., has promoted Laura M. Simon to executive vice president and profit center leader of its Lawyers’ Protector Plan. Simon will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of this niche professional liability insurance program serving attorneys and law firms nationwide. The LPP covers nearly 6,000 law firms in 44 states and the District of Columbia, according to the company.

Simon most recently has been the director of the company’s Leadership Development Department. Prior to that she served in management capacities within the Lawyers’ Protector Plan for six years.

Independent broker Lockton has added two senior executives to expand its financial services practice in its Atlanta office. William Butler is joining Lockton as senior vice president and producer, and Rodger Laurite is joining as senior vice president and unit manager. Both were previously with Aon Risk Services.

Butler will be responsible for business development in the brokerage firm’s property and casualty practice. Butler has 21 years’ experience, primarily dealing with management liability issues such as directors and officers liability, general partners liability, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability, errors and omissions, and fidelity.

Prior to joining Lockton, Butler was managing director and the Southeast Region Leader for Aon’s Financial Services Group and executive board member. He also has worked at Marsh and Johnson & Higgins in New York and Bermuda.

Laurite has been named senior vice president and unit manager for Lockton’s financial services practice in Atlanta. Laurite will focus on management liability lines of insurance including directors and officers liability, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability, errors and omissions, and crime.

Laurite’s 13 years of experience include work with Fortune 100 public companies. He has worked with firms in financial services, retail, real estate, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, chemical, technology, healthcare, telecommunications and staffing. Prior to joining Lockton, Laurite was senior vice president and team leader for Aon’s Financial Services Group in the Southeast region. He has also worked with insurance broker RM Access, management consulting firm AT Kearney and Marsh.

New York-based Kinloch Holdings, Inc., a newly formed insurance brokerage holding company focusing on middle market clients, has named Thomas E. O’Neil as executive vice-president. Prior to joining Kinloch Holdings Inc., O’Neil was the chief operating officer of USI Holdings. During his tenure, he helped the firm grow from $50 million in revenues to almost $500 million. He was a member of the management team that took the company public in 2002. After the initial IPO, he integrated nine acquisitions. Kinloch plans to grow through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth.

The independent, not-for-profit Workers Compensation Research Institute, based in Cambridge, Mass., has named Suzanne M. Guyan as director of membership. Since 2006, Guyan has been principal of S M Guyan and Associates, a consulting service. She was also with Costco Wholesale, where she served in employee disability benefits and legislative affairs regarding workers’ compensation.