People
Woodbury, N.Y.-based Sterling & Sterling appointed Leslie Nylund as president of the insurance brokerage. Nylund will be responsible for the firm’s operations, including sales, employee benefits, client services and senior carrier relationships. She will also oversee field offices in New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Utah and California. Previously, she served as vice chair of Sterling & Sterling. She came to Sterling & Sterling from Willis where she was Willis North America’s New York Metro region head. She also spent 18 years at Marsh as a managing director.
Philadelphia Insurance Companies announced three promotions: Sean Sweeney to president and chief operating officer; Robert O’Leary to executive vice president and chief marketing officer; and John Glomb to executive vice president and chief underwriting officer. Sweeney has been with Philadelphia Insurance since 1979, starting as an account executive. Sweeney has held several positions with the company. Most recently he served as president and chief marketing officer. Robert O’Leary joined Philadelphia Insurance in 1982 as a regional manager. Most recently he was executive vice president of marketing. John Glomb joined Philadelphia Insurance in 2007 as senior vice president of the management and professional liability unit. In 2009, he took on the responsibility for the underwriting department. Previosuly Glomb worked at Banc of America Securities and at National Union, the management and professional liability unit of AIG.
Confie Seguros, an insurance agency group focused on Hispanic consumers, appointed Joseph Waked as chief executive officer. John Addeo , former CEO and co-founder, will remain as executive chairman and stay involved in the strategic direction of the firm. Waked was most recently CEO of Freeway Insurance, a California subsidiary of Confie Seguros, and formerly served as Freeway’s chief operating officer.
United States Aviation Underwriters (USAU) started the New Year with David McKay as president and CEO. He replaces Michael Sweeney who retired at the end of 2011. New York-based USAU is a unit of General Re in Stamford, Conn. Sweeney will continue as chairman until end of April. McKay joined USAU in 1978. He was named president and chief operating officer in 2006.
Business property insurance giant FM Global appointed Rod Fisher as senior vice president of underwriting and reinsurance. In his new role, based at the company’s Johnston, R.I., headquarters, Fisher will be responsible for the company’s underwriting and reinsurance functions. Previously, he was senior vice president and manager of the company’s U.S. central division, based in Illinois. Fisher joined FM Global in 1985 as a field engineer and held a number of management positions.
Chartis appointed Murli Buluswar to the newly created position of chief science officer. In this role, Buluswar will lead the effort to more closely analyze corporate business, underwriting and claims data and help improve Chartis’ global business strategies. Chartis said Buluswar will help enhance the insurer’s focus on analytics related to its underwriting decisions, product innovation, pricing, distribution, marketing, claims and customer experience. Buluswar joins Chartis from Farmers Insurance where he was vice president of enterprise customer experience.
HCC Insurance Holdings appointed Jonathan Greenway as president of Avemco Insurance, a subsidiary in Frederick, Md. Avemco is an insurer specializing in aviation and pilot insurance. Prior to joining Avemco, Greenway served as captain and check airman with American Airlines and more recently as the director of safety for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Air Safety Institute.
New York-based global reinsurance broker U.S. RE Corp. appointed James Nelson as senior vice president. Nelson is a reinsurance executive who has worked more than 30 years at Guy Carpenter, where he rose from treaty broker to managing director. He began his career at Safeco before joining Carpenter in 1978. He was a director of Balis & Co., which later became the Philadelphia office of Guy Carpenter. Throughout his career, Nelson managed major commercial property and casualty accounts.
Lockton Companies appointed Michael Power as senior vice president and Northeast real estate practice leader. Based in the broker’s Manhattan, New York, office, Power will oversee business development and client advocacy for clients in the real estate and hospitality industries. Most recently, he headed the New York real estate practice at Willis. He started his career with the Maryland Casualty Co., transitioning to the brokerage community with Leonard Newman Agency in White Plains, N.Y. He has also held senior leadership positions with Sedgwick James and Wells Fargo Insurance Services. Also, Lockton Affinity, an insurance program management unit of Lockton Cos., appointed Sara Payne as senior vice president. Payne brings expertise in areas of creation and operation of Defense Base Act insurance programs for government contractors. She will be based in Lockton Affinity’s Washington, D.C., area offices.
Endurance Specialty Holdings promoted Mark Boland to senior vice president, primary casualty insurance. In his new role, Boland will lead Endurance’s U.S. wholesale primary casualty insurance operations. He joined Endurance in 2007 and built a portfolio focused on hard-to-place small- to mid-size complex risks, working through a network of surplus lines agents. He will be located in New York City. Previously, Boland was president of Coventry Managers, a commercial P/C carrier. From 1996 to 2005, he was CEO of Hermitage Insurance, a commercial lines unit of Tower Group Inc.
New York-based Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. said Deborah Luthi will lead the society as president in 2012. Luthi is the enterprise risk manager for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. She has been a member of RIMS for 32 years and a board member for 11 years. Also, RIMS named John Phelps as vice president for the 2012 term. He is director of business risk solutions at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc. Carolyn Snow has been named to be treasurer for this year. She is risk management director at Humana Inc. And Nowell Seaman will be corporate secretary this year. He is risk management manager at University of Saskatchewan.
Celent, a financial and insurance IT research firm and a unit of Oliver Wyman, said Craig Weber is replacing Mike Harding as Celent’s CEO. Harding, a senior partner at Oliver Wyman, became CEO in 2009, shortly after Oliver Wyman acquired Celent. Harding will retain his role as Celent chairman. Weber has been a senior vice president, overseeing Celent’s insurance division since 2007. In recent years, he led the team’s overseas expansion. He joined the firm in 2002.
The ACE Group appointed Bryan Tedford as senior vice president of ACE USA’s foreign casualty unit. Tedford will have the strategic responsibility for ACE USA’s foreign casualty product lines. He will also lead the group’s underwriting, marketing, and field operations. Tedford joined ACE in February 2011, and most recently served as senior vice president, ACE USA foreign casualty national field operations. Tedford is located in Jersey City, N.J. Also, Tim Benson has been appointed to oversee international products serving the retail (ACE USA) and small business (ACE commercial risk services) segments. This is in addition to his current role as senior vice president, ACE Global Services. Benson is located in Philadelphia. And Bill Rabl, chief operating officer at ACE Risk Management, will assume additional management responsibilities for the division’s nine branch offices. Rabl has held several senior management positions since joining ACE in 2002. Rabl is located in Jersey City, N.J. Also, Barbara Luck has been named executive vice president and chief underwriting officer at ACE Risk Management. Luck will lead the division’s U.S. underwriting activities. She has held several regional and home office underwriting leadership roles at ACE since joining the company in 2001.
The MEMIC Group, a workers’ compensation insurer based in Portland, Maine, promoted Jeff Funk to the position of assistant vice president. In his new role, he will continue developing business in New England and throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Funk joined MEMIC in 2006 as an executive underwriter.
Vermont Mutual Insurance Co., based in Montpelier, Vt., appointed Donald Rung as property risk control manager. He has held management positions at Lumber Mutual, Providence Washington and most recently as loss control vice president at the Mutual Fire Insurance Association of New England.
Heffernan Insurance Brokers, an independent brokerage headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., hired Victor Fonseca to join its New York office as vice president of construction practice. Fonseca brings over 17 years of insurance experience to Heffernan. He began his career working for several insurance carriers before transitioning to the brokerage community. Heffernan also hired Elizabeth McMurray to join its Manhattan office in New York as account executive. McMurray has 20 years of industry experience. Her past responsibilities included developing, designing and implementing risk management, risk transfer and risk control programs for a range of businesses.
Exceptional Risk Advisors, a Lloyds’ of London managing general underwriter in Mahwah, N.J., appointed Chris Lack to lead its sports/entertainment unit. His expertise revolves around designing services for sports and entertainment risks that traditional life and disability carriers are unable to deliver. He previously served as assistant vice president of sports and business development for William J. Sutton in Toronto, Canada. He was also a consultant for Hanleigh, a Crump Company, in Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
Florida-based LIG Marine Managers appointed Richard Zolty to lead its new regional office in Philadelphia. The office will cover businesses from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Zolty joined LIG in November 2011. He has more than 40 years of underwriting experience in workers compensation and longshore insurance. He has held management positions with various insurance companies including ACE USA.