People

Iroquois of California based in Sacramento, Calif., added a former insurance consultant, marketing manager and agency owner to its staff. Mike Mullens will serve as regional manager in Northern California, bringing more than 17 years of experience in the areas of agency management, operations, marketing and acquisition due diligence.

Mullens recently worked as an insurance consultant in California, Oregon and Washington, specializing in agency rehabilitation, business development and marketing.

Iroquois of California is part of The Iroquois Group, a network of property and casualty insurance agencies.

Denver-based IMA of Colorado Inc., a retail insurance brokerage, promoted Cathy Sims to vice president – employee benefits, and Sandy Harvath to vice president – commercial lines.

IMA of Colorado is part of the IMA Financial Group Inc., a financial services company specializing in insurance, asset and risk management.

Sims leads the employee benefits division of IMA of Colorado. She oversees the consulting and service for all employee benefits accounts. Her division provides strategic direction related to all aspects of employee benefits including health and productivity for a diverse group of client companies. Sims has more than 20 years of industry experience including leadership roles at insurance carriers and managing employee benefit programs for large employers.

Harvath is IMA of Colorado’s commercial lines division leader. She oversees the division and works with all of IMA’s specialty practice service teams, including the claims and loss control groups, to ensure service excellence for clients.

The Professional Insurance Marketing Association, a networking and business development forum for the insurance direct marketing arena, elected its 2010 leaders, naming James P. Gallagher president. Gallagher is senior vice president, sales & client relations at USI Affinity, Collegiate Insurance Resources of Columbus, Ohio.

Other new PIMA officers are: President-Elect Denise S. Friday of Insurance Agency Inc., Chicago; Treasurer Edwin J. Miltenberger of Gilsbar Inc., Convington, La.; Secretary Sam Fleet of AmWINS Group Benefits/NEBCO, Warwick, R.I.; and Immediate Past President (ex-officio) Frank J. Fimmano of Aon Consulting, New York.

Newly elected board directors are: Allen Bress of Merchants Benefit Administration, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Cathy Colburn of Corporate Call Center, Blue Bell, Pa.; and John Kelly of Prudential, Mandeville, La.

Returning board directors for 2010 are: Ron Clarke of Affinion Group.; Shane Eatinger of American General Life Companies; Michael Mercer of Transamerica Affinity Services; Daniel O’Brien of New York Life; Joan O’Sullivan of Marsh Consumer; Susan Fox Ruggiero of NEA Member Benefits; Bill Tyson of AMPAC Insurance Marketing Inc.; and Michael Wise of IdeaStar Inc.

PIMA presented the President’s Distinguished Service Award to Joan O’Sullivan, managing director at Marsh US Consumer. The association awarded its PIMA Legend Award to David Dunn, who recently retired from New York Life.

Specialty insurer Ironshore Inc. appointed Scott Fitzmaurice as regional executive for the Southeast and John Koller as branch executive in San Francisco. The appointments expand Ironshore’s U.S field operations.

Fitzmaurice will report to Steve England, executive vice president, Ironshore Insurance Services LLC, and will be responsible for business development in the Southeast. In this expanded role, he will retain his existing responsibilities with IronPro, Ironshore’s management liability division. Prior to joining Ironshore in January 2008, Fitzmaurice was a regional manager for AIG Management Liability.

Koller will report to Wade Pitman, regional executive of the West Coast to build upon Ironshore’s presence within this geographic footprint. In addition, he will maintain current responsibilities with Ironshore Property. Most recently, Koller was an account executive with Aon, and served for more than 15 year with HRH, FM Global, The Hartford and Atlantic Mutual.