People

January 11, 2009

Alice A. Molasky Arman joined Western Insurance Co. as senior vice president of government relations. Molasky Arman recently retired from the State of Nevada, where she was recognized as the state’s longest serving Commissioner of Insurance serving a tenure from January 1995 until Sept. 7, 2008. While in the position, the state addressed an availability crisis in medical malpractice insurance, privatized the state’s industrial insurance system, instituted the captive insurance program and launched a media campaign to warn the public about the dangers of unauthorized insurance.

The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, a trade association representing domestic and international commercial insurance agents and brokers, named Tom Hughston, executive vice president of North Texas-based Roach Howard Smith & Barton (RHSB), to its board of directors. Hughston, whose insurance career spans more than 20 years, joined RHSB in 1991 as a principal and shareholder, and was appointed to the board in 1995. Prior to RHSB, he was with Chubb Insurance.

Aon Consulting named Chuck Longiotti regional director of the Central West region, which comprises Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and all states west of the Mississippi River. Longiotti brings 27 years of experience in consulting and account management. He comes to Aon Consulting from Mercer, where he was the leader for the western United States region and for Latin America. He also led Mercer’s U.S. West retirement business. He will be based in Irvine, Calif.

The Insurance Marketing and Communications Association named Richard Look president. He is a marketing communications veteran with agency and insurance company experience, and currently serves as vice president of marketing communications for Inventure Inc., a privately owned insurance services company based in West Chester, Pa. Look has served as director of communications for Venture Insurance Programs and was vice president of brand marketing for Commonwealth Risk Services. On the agency side, he served as president of Jenkins Advertising, vice president and account supervisor of McAdams, Richman & Ong, and managed e-marketing initiatives through Kingswood Interactive.

Other IMCA 2008/2009 officers and directors are: Executive Vice President Linda Collins of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.; Vice President Randall Clinger of SwissRe; Vice President Mitch Dunford of Insurance Journal; and Past President at Large Reg Pierce of Bailey Brand Consulting.

IMCA also appointed three new board members: Zdenka Melnyk of Manitoba Public Insurance, Krista Winters of American Modern Insurance Group and Mark Friedlander of Main Street America Group.

Bankers Risk Management Consultants based in Naples, Fla., named Janet (Riewold) Bordonaro vice president in charge of new business. She will be based out of Naples, but her territory includes the entire United States. Bordonaro spent seven years on Bankers’ sales force covering Florida’s Broward, Monroe and Dade counties from 1996 through 2003, when the Bankers book of flood business was sold. She then joined Fidelity to help transition the business and remained there since. In her new position, she will be working largely through the Bankers family of affiliates, using her relationships with affinity groups and other companies to create new business.

Worcester, Massachusetts-based The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. named Helen Ryan Savaiano vice president, management liability, for commercial lines business. She will develop a business unit that builds on The Hanover’s current employment practices liability (EPLI) offering, to include nonprofit and private company directors and officers, as well as other related coverages. She will work out of The Hanover’s office in Itasca, Ill.

Savaiano joins The Hanover from W.R. Berkley Corp. in Chicago, where she held numerous senior-level management positions, most recently, vice president of the company’s small business unit.

The Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) honored Kevin M. LaCroix with its 2008 PLUS Founders Award and John J. Degnan, with its 2008 PLUS1 Award.

The Founders Award recognizes a PLUS member who has made lasting and outstanding contributions to the Society. The award is presented in honor of PLUS Founder Angelo J. Gioia and other individuals who have contributed selflessly to create PLUS and establish it as the voice of the professional liability industry.

LaCroix is a partner in OakBridge Insurance Services, of Beachwood, Ohio, and an Insurance Journal columnist. OakBridge is an insurance intermediary focused on management liability issues. He has been involved in directors’ and officers’ liability insurance issues for more than 25 years.

The PLUS1 Award is presented to a person whose efforts have contributed to the advancement and image of the professional liability industry. Criteria include reputation and success in the professional liability industry, history of lectures and service on panels addressing industry topics, activity in professional liability, involvement in PLUS, longevity in the insurance industry, and measure of impact on the professional liability industry.

Degnan is vice chairman and chief operating officer of The Chubb Corp., a role he assumed in June 2008. He had served as chief administrative officer since 2002 and assumed the additional title of chief ethics and legal compliance officer in 2005. He is on the boards of the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters.