People

Holly Foxen Wells has been promoted to marketing and public relations manager of San Diego, Calif.-based Atlas General Insurance Services.

She will lead the marketing team to enhance Atlas’ brand strategy and customer service objectives.

Wells joined Atlas in 2010, where she started her insurance career as an underwriting assistant. Before Atlas, Wells was a marketing coordinator in the real estate industry, including at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.

Ryan Petersen has been appointed creative director of Valencia, Calif.-based Petersen International, and Dane Petersen has been named as the firm’s marketing director.

Ryan Petersen is responsible for developing content for Petersen’s marketing and advertising efforts including writing, art direction and media production.

As marketing director, Dane Petersen’s duties include research and development of the firm’s marketing strategy, advertising placement and social media campaigns.

Petersen International Underwriters is a 30-year Lloyd’s coverholder and underwriting facility of disability, life, medical and contingency insurance products.

State Compensation Insurance Fund has named Len Welsh head of workplace safety.

Welsh will focus on developing methods for improving safety and health practices, and reducing the rates of workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses, State Fund said.

He currently serves as special counsel to the director of the Department of Industrial Relations and will begin his transition to State Fund at the beginning of the New Year. Previously he held roles as chief and special counsel at the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA).

State Fund is a nonprofit, competitive public enterprise that provides worker’s compensation insurance coverage to California employers.

San Francisco, Calif.-based Edgewood Partners Insurance Center (EPIC), a retail property, casualty and employee benefits brokerage, has added Scott Gunnison as principal of strategic development.

Gunnison has more than 30 years of insurance underwriting, retail and wholesale brokerage, specialty program development and operations experience. He will be based in Chicago and report to EPIC President and co-founder John Hahn.

Gunnison was previously executive vice president of the Crump Group, where he managed the firm’s Chicago office for more than 20 years.

Atlas General Insurance Services has promoted Steve Boyd to underwriting manager.

In his expanded role, Boyd will continue to underwrite while contributing to program management at Atlas.

Boyd, who served as a senior workers’ compensation underwriter since the inception of Atlas in 2009, has over 15-years’ experience in workers’ comp underwriting and has participated in several GA start-up’s.

He began his career at Golden Eagle Insurance Co.

Suhr Risk Services (SRS), an independent retail employee benefits and property-casualty insurance brokerage firm, has hired Melissa Ceja as team leader and account executive of the employee benefits division.

Ceja will be based in Silicon Valley and will report to John B. Suhr, CEO and managing principal. Her responsibilities include designing risk management plans, strategic marketing and preparing calendars of service commitments insuring the accountability of deliverables. Ceja will also manage the employee benefits client service team.

Before SRS, Ceja was an account manager at Woodruff Sawyer & Co. in San Francisco, where she provided a variety of risk management solutions to large companies.