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The Insurance Council of Texas recently presented William H. “Bill” Huff, vice president of Regulatory Affairs for Affirmative Insurance, with the Raymond Mauk Leadership Award. Huff is the 12th recipient of the award, which is the ICT’s highest honor.
The Raymond Mauk Leadership award is intended to bestow recognition on those whose labor has made a significant difference in the business of insurance. Huff was presented with the award July 23 at the ICT’s 17th Annual Mid-Year Property and Casualty Symposium.
Huff is a former Iowa insurance commissioner and Iowa state legislator. As insurance commissioner, Huff was active in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners where he advanced consumer issues such as unfair claim settlement practices and life insurance cost disclosure. He wrote the first NAIC market conduct manual and developed the first complaint handling logs for both insurance departments and companies. He was elected president of the NAIC in 1975.
In 1976, Huff moved to Dallas and joined Employers Casualty. He twice served as chairman of the Texas Medical Liability Insurance Joint Underwriting Association, and has served as chairman of the Texas Market Assistance Program, president of the Association of Fire and Casualty Companies in Texas (AFACT) and as founding director of the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute. Huff currently serves on the board of the National Arthritis Foundation.
The Raymond Mauk Award honors former Texas Fire Commissioner Raymond Mauk and annually recognizes someone who has made a notable contribution to the Texas property and casualty insurance industry.
Dallas-based Colemont Insurance Brokers promoted Bob Black to vice president in the company’s Atlanta office. Black joined Colemont in 2004 as an associate broker responsible for marketing all lines of property and inland marine business. He specializes in the placement of a variety of property risks, including catastrophe-exposed business, national property schedules, distressed business, and builder’s risks.
Colemont also promoted Blake Baker to vice president in the company’s Woodland Hills, Calif., office. Baker is a workers’ compensation specialist with more than 20 years of experience. He specializes in construction, large risks, high x-mod, and difficult-to-place risks.
In addition, Colemont named John Cleary as vice president and casualty broker, working as part of the Hartford, Conn., office from his physical location in New Jersey.
The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. appointed Juan Andrade president and chief operating officer of its Property and Casualty Operations. Andrade will continue to report directly to the company’s chairman and CEO, Ramani Ayer, and will serve as a member of the Office of the Chairman.
Andrade has been serving as the interim property/casualty co-leader of The Hartford’s Property and Casualty Operations since February 2009.
Gregory Smith joined William Gammon Insurance Agency Inc. in Austin, Texas, as commercial lines manager. An Austin native, Smith comes to Gammon Insurance from Aon Risk Services in Charlotte, N.C., where he was account executive for complex, global risk management accounts including hospitality and health care segments.
Smith, a risk and insurance management professional with more than 20-years of experience, began his career in Austin with the former Smith-Connolly Co. Inc. Smith attained the Certified Insurance Counselor designation from the National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research, an Associate in Risk Management designation from the Institute of Insurance of America and Professional designation from the Academy for Healthcare Management.
Debbie Russell joined the quality assurance team at Austin, Texas-based CastleBay Consulting Corp., which provides consulting services to the property and casualty insurance market. Russell will focus on expanding CastleBay’s quality assurance practice and providing CastleBay clients a variety of quality management services.
In addition to her tenure as an independent consultant, Russell was most recently a consultant with BearingPoint working as a technology analyst and quality assurance specialist.
Greg Faulx will head the Denver regional office of Houston-based SureTec Insurance Co., where he has been appointed as vice president. Faulx was a key member of the original management team that formed Universal Surety of America along with SureTec chairman and CEO John Knox Jr.
After 14 years working with the SureTec management team in Houston, Faulx relocated in 1996 to open USA’s Denver office.
Joining Faulx in SureTec’s Denver office will be Matt Hamlin, who has worked with Faulx for several years.
The Travelers Cos. Inc. named Anne MacDonald executive vice president, chief marketing officer. MacDonald will supervise the company’s marketing, brand management and advertising strategy, and she will serve on the company’s management committee. As it relates to marketing and advertising, MacDonald will work with Corporate Communications and Branding and will report to company Chairman and CEO Jay Fishman.
At the business unit level, MacDonald will provide marketing and advertising oversight for all three of the company’s business segments.