People

Marsh appointed Jill Sulkes as head of its U.S. Financial Institutions Practice.

Sulkes has more than 15 years of experience in risk management for financial institutions, most recently as a managing director in Marsh’s financial and professional liability (FINPRO) practice. She also has been heavily involved in new product analysis, business development, and professional development and training of Marsh colleagues.

Sulkes is based in New York and will report to Timothy J. Mahoney, president of Marsh’s Global Risk Management division.

Farmers Group Inc., the Los Angeles-based company and unit of Zurich Financial Services Group, appointed Jeff Dailey president and chief operating officer. Dailey also will become Farmers’ CEO when current Farmers CEO F. Robert Woudstra retires at the end of this year.

Dailey, Farmers’ current president of personal lines, succeeded Woudstra as president on January 1 and, over the year, Dailey will work closely and report to Woudstra leading up to Woudstra’s planned retirement at the end of 2011.

“Taking on the president and COO role now will provide Jeff Dailey with invaluable experience before he succeeds Bob Woudstra as Farmers CEO upon Bob’s retirement,” said Martin Senn, CEO of Zurich Financial Services Group and Paul N. Hopkins, chairman of the board of Farmers Group Inc. and regional chairman of the Americas for Zurich Financial Services Group.

Woudstra joined Farmers in 2000 with the acquisition of Foremost Insurance Co., where he began his career in 1973. He was named president of Farmers Insurance in 2007 and CEO in 2009.

Dailey joined Farmers Insurance in 2007 with its acquisition of Bristol West Holdings, where he served as Bristol West CEO. He began his career as a claims adjuster with Mutual Service Insurance. Early in his career, Dailey worked at Progressive Insurance Co. After leaving Progressive, Dailey formed Reliant Insurance Co., an auto insurance start-up owned by Reliant Group Holdings, which was later sold to Bristol West in 2001.

Gallagher Benefit Services of Washington added David S. Rowe to its Retirement Services consulting practice. Rowe has more than 20 years of retirement consulting experience.

Rowe is currently the president of the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries Benefits Council of the Great Northwest. Prior to Gallagher, Rowe was vice president, managing director with Prudential Retirement in Seattle.

Heffernan Insurance Brokers added Melodie Hight in its Portland, Ore., office as a producer in Commercial Property and Casualty Insurance.

Hight has more than 20 years in commercial property and casualty insurance. She previously worked for Beecher Carlson in Portland, where she headed the service team for the firm’s Nonprofit Practice. She will continue that focus by working in Heffernan’s Nonprofit Choice practice. She also will concentrate on large, diverse commercial accounts, where she can use her expertise in workers’ compensation.

Hight started her career with Liberty Mutual in 1981 and was part of the group that founded Liberty Northwest as a new division. She also previously managed the Workers’ Compensation Department at USI Insurance Agency, and worked as an underwriter for Grocers Insurance, part of the Argonaut Group.

EPIC (Edgewood Partners Insurance Center), a California-based retail property, casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage, added North Bay insurance professionals Wade Gordon and Jennifer Heliotes in the company’s newest Petaluma, Calif., branch office. Both have deep ties to the North Bay community and broad experience in commercial property/casualty insurance and risk management. The company also added Erik Matson as principal, strategic development. He will be based in New Jersey and report directly to EPIC president and co-founder, John Hahn.

Gordon joins EPIC as senior account executive. His responsibilities will center on designing, marketing, implementing and managing the insurance programs for a group of EPIC’s largest North Bay clients. Previously, he spent seven years at Wells Fargo Insurance (formerly ABD Insurance and Financial Services). He has more than 26 years of insurance industry experience.

Heliotes is an account manager, responsible for the day-to-day management and administration of insurance programs and the delivery of client service excellence. She also joins the company from Wells Fargo Insurance/ABD where she was responsible for managing the programs in the Petaluma office, including clients in the life science, construction, medical and financial services sectors.

Matson’s strategic development responsibilities will initially center on PowerGuard Specialty Insurance Services — a managing general agent and Lloyd’s cover holder specializing in the design and underwriting of insurance and risk management solutions for wind, solar and other alternative energy companies. PowerGuard is a separate operating entity developed and launched by Hahn in conjunction with PowerGuard’s managing principal, Mike McMullen. Matson was recently an executive with a large reinsurance company in its primary specialty insurance organization.