People

Maryland-based insurance and risk management firm HMS Insurance Associates Inc. has made several executive-level promotions. Nancey Bohlen has been promoted to chief financial officer and vice president of operations. She will oversee financial aspects of insurance and non-insurance related business. Craig Bancroft has been promoted to senior vice president of surety and captive operations. He will oversee HMS’ growth in surety and in the captive marketplace. Len Novotny has been promoted to vice president of commercial insurance operations. He will be responsible for all internal and external commercial insurance service, marketing, underwriting and service staff management. Based on their years of service, outstanding production, equity position in the company and leadership qualities, Brian Marden and Gavin Moag have also been promoted to the positions of vice president.

Former Commerce Group executive John W. Hawie has been hired by Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corp. (LWCC) as senior vice president and chief investment officer. He left a position as senior vice president and chief investment officer at Commerce Group in Mass., where he was responsible for $2.5 billion in fixed income and equity investments. Prior to that, he served as team leader/portfolio manager for General Re-New England Asset Management in Farmington, Conn.

Synergy Professional Associates, of Kinnelon, N.J., hired Myles Alonzo as manager of its new West Coast office. Alonzo will be based out of the San Francisco Bay Area and will be responsible for brokering professional liability risks as well as the development of new professional liability programs. Alonzo has experience with several regional wholesale producers and specialty carriers in professional liability, including a background in lawyers professional liability, fiduciary liability, medical malpractice, and employment practices liability.

Insurance holding company W. R. Berkley Corp. has named W. Robert Berkley Jr. as president and chief operating officer of the company. Berkley will manage all of the company’s operating units, He has been responsible for the oversight of the domestic insurance operations, including its specialty, regional and alternative markets businesses, since 2005. Berkley joined W. R. Berkley Corp. in 1997 and has served as its executive vice president since August 2005. In addition, he has served on the board of directors since his election in 2001. Before joining W. R. Berkley Corp., he worked as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch & Co.

Global professional services firm Towers Perrin has named Steve Levene practice leader for its retail insurance brokerage business. Levene’s responsibilities will include strategic risk management programs for corporate and public entity clients. He is based in the firm’s Stamford, Conn. office. Levene was most recently a managing director of Beecher Carlson. He has also held executive positions at Lockton, Marsh and Sedgwick.

The Excess/Surplus Lines Claims Association has changed its names and elected a new slate of officers and directors. The organization is now known as the International Association of Claim Professionals (IACP). Its new officers are: President Miles J. Banks, executive director, Group Claims, Willis Ltd.; Vice President Bruce Carlino, senior vice president, head of claims, QBE Reinsurance Corp.; Treasurer Stuart Willoughby, claims director, Markel International Insurance Company Ltd.; Secretary Susan Wain, senior vice president, Claims, Scottsdale Insurance Co.; Assistant Treasurer Eric Herstine, assistant vice president of Reinsurance Claims, Lexington Insurance Co.; Assistant Secretary Kevin Shea, senior vice president, Direct Claims, Berkley Insurance Co./Signet Star Re; and Immediate Past President Sandra Van Enk, senior vice president, Toa Reinsurance Co. of America. The following were elected as directors: Robert Dudzik, vice president, Arch Insurance Group; Ed Quinn, chief operating officer, Rockville Risk Management Associates; Terry Tuttle, vice president, Reinsurance Solutions; Peter Fennell, senior vice president, Aon Re, Inc.; and Joachim Krane, chief claims officer, Continental Europe and Asia, XL Insurance.

Dan J. Newsome has joined U.S. RE Corp. in New York, the international brokerage subsidiary of U.S. RE Cos. Inc., as senior vice president. Newsome brings 30 years of experience in reinsurance to his new assignment. He served six years at Aon RE, Inc. as vice president for new business development and 13 years at American Reinsurance Co., where he held various management responsibilities.

Steven D. Carroll, Robert Jarratt and Michael H. Lee have been elected as the newest members of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America’s (PCI) board of governors. Carroll, serves as executive vice president and general manager, North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. Carroll has served on the Beach and Fair Plan Board of Directors since 1994, including a two-year term as chairman. Jarratt is executive vice president and CEO of Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co. Lee is chairman of the board of directors, president and CEO at Tower Group Inc.

The National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) recently honored John Latham, regional president with Markel, with theCharles A. McAlear/NAPSLO Industry Award, which was presentedn at NAPSLO’s annual convention last month in Orlando.