People

August 15, 2011

CEO Warren Buffett is leaving Berkshire Hathaway for a job with Gorat’s Steakhouse in Omaha, Neb., where he will greet customers and serve the root beer floats. Buffett said that since he has given away all of his money to Bill and Melinda Gates and global charities, he needs a job that pays better than Berkshire Hathaway.

BIG Insurance Co., a small specialty insurer in Dallas, has traded its rookie chief executive officer, Orson A. Round, to Seattle Marine Underwriters for $5 million and an underwriter to be named later. The highly-touted Round, drafted in the first round by BIG during the 2010 RIMS Conference in Vancouver, spent most of the past year on the disabled list.

Jed I. Knight is the new CEO at The Force, a claims mediator based in Lightside, Mich.. Knight brings more than 30 years of experience to The Force. He specializes in large galactic claims and peaceful negotiations among factions. He will be based in the Coruscant office.

Gulph Coast Insurance Group in South Carolina has announced the hiring of Rick O’Shea as senior vice president. O’Shea, a recent college dropout, previously worked as a lifeguard at a Hilton Head nude beach. “We are very pleased to have Rick join us in the agency owned by his father,” said his uncle and agency treasurer, Nick O’Shea.

Feelgood Mutual Insurance in Miami has promoted B. Lowe Paar to the position of vice president of golf. In his new position, Paar will be responsible for scheduling tee times and reserving carts. Paar is a 20-year veteran of the insurance golf scene, having served as a marketing representative for several agency mutual insurers in the Northeast.

The Phoenix chapter of the National Association of Insurance People with Pets International announced its 2011 award winners at a recent bar hopping. Lynn C. Doyle, of Patriot Insurance Services, was awarded Young Professional of the Year. Bill Meelater of Meelater Associates was awarded Old Professional of the Year, posthumously.

Folly Insurance Group has hired Bruno Beer as a producer in its Cherry Hill, N.J., office. Beer, who is the agency’s third hire for this position within the last 60 days, will strong-arm potential property/casualty clients into buying excess coverage. Prior to joining FIG, Beer was a professional wrestler.

Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corp. President and CEO Kristin W. Wall and Texas Mutual Insurance Co. President Ron Wright have agreed to exchange jobs. Wall will take Wright’s post at Texas Mutual for a year and Wright will lead LWCC. Wall said the job-switch idea started out as a joke but after a couple of gin and tonics they said, “What the heck, let’s do it.”

There is a 75 percent probability that Lois D. Nominator, a vice president with Ohio-based actuarial services firm Decoteck, will be elected president of the Group of American Actuaries in Practice (GAAP) when the group meets next week in Las Vegas. Nominator is favored over Tad Moore.

Toni Liebig is the new vice president of government affairs for the Government Insurance Group (GIG), based in Alexandria, Va. Liebig will be in charge of contingent commission payments and escorts for members of Congress and their staffs. GIG members support the federal crop, flood and terrorism insurance programs.

Philomena Crouch is the new chief of mobile claims for New England at Hemlloyd’s. In this new position, Crouch will hack and re-route all claims that are submitted online from customers operating from mobile locations. She will work from a Starbuck’s coffee shop off Route 93 in Londonderry, N.H.