People and Places

Steve Taylor has been promoted to regional sales director for Encompass Insurance in New York and New Jersey.

Taylor joined Allstate in 1978 as an underwriter trainee. He was promoted to various management positions in underwriting and sales, including regional underwriting manager, territory sales manager, regional sales manager, and most recently as the Encompass regional sales manager for the state of New York.

Gencorp Insurance Group, with headquarters in East Greenwich, R.I., has announced the promotion of two of its insurance professionals.

Jay E. Madden has been named president of Gencorp’s Wholesale Division. Madden has been with the firm for 10 years. He came to Gencorp as manager of the firm’s marketing and underwriting department, most recently serving as senior vice president. He will continue to oversee excess and surplus lines markets and the commercial and recreational marine markets, along with continuing to manage Gencorp’s Insurance Agency Network.

Also, L. Kevin O’Connor has been named vice president for claims. He will oversee the claims department as well as coordinate loss control programs for Gencorp clients. He has 25 years experience in the insurance business.

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, including regional vice president for the Personal Market Pacific Division.

Peerless Insurance, a member of Liberty Mutual Group, has named Linn Herron, regional vice president for the Northern New England region. In this new capacity, Herron will oversee the personal and commercial underwriting functions and agency management for New Hampshire and Vermont, in addition to Massachusetts.

Herron has been branch manager in Massachusetts since Peerless Insurance re-entered that state for commercial lines business in 2001. She previously worked in the Northern New England office as a commercial lines team leader and marketing representative, and has experience in the same capacity as a personal lines team leader.

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.

Northeast Bank Insurance Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Maine-based Northeast Bank, has hired George Gould as branch manager for the recently acquired Southern Maine Insurance Agency located in Scarborough. Gould will provide assistance during the new agency conversion and develop business in commercial lines.

Gould joins Northeast after 25 years in the insurance industry. He has held senior management positions with insurance carriers including Commercial Union, Patrons Oxford, and USF&G, as well as, with surplus lines brokers.

Managing general agent and program manager First Capital-AWIS, LLC has named two new underwriters.

Gerald McCabe is now senior underwriter for the firm’s commercial contractors facility in Naperville, Ill., where he will work to expand the producer base in the Midwest. He was previously with Kemper and Great American Insurance.

Walter Smart has been named senior underwriter and will assist in underwriting First Capital’s commercial contractors’ program in the Northeast. He was previously with Empire Group.

First Capital has offices in Roslyn Heights, N.Y.; Naperville, Ill.; San Francisco and San Diego, Calif.

The independent, not-for-profit Workers Compensation Research Institute, based in Cambridge, Mass., has named Suzanne M. Guyan as director of membership. She will have responsibility for building relationships with public officials and other WCRI stakeholders.

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 several director roles in employee disability benefits and legislative affairs regarding workers’ compensation.