People

Citizens Property Insurance Corp. President Scott Wallace announced that he will step down as president and CEO of the corporation effective April 6.

Wallace, who has served more than six years as the CEO of the Florida company, has overseen a period of rapid growth as Citizens has become the state’s largest homeowners insurer with 1.5 million policies.

The state-backed insurer has come under increasing scrutiny as Gov. Rick Scott and other state officials have sought ways to depopulate the insurer.

In a letter to the board, Wallace said he was proud of his service and the improvements Citizens has made in serving the public.

“Citizens have greatly improved as we constantly strive toward continuous improvement and excellence in our service levels and professionalism to our policyholders, legislative leaders and stakeholders,” said Wallace. “We know have a professional organization that is sustainable and scalable to address the needs of Citizens’ policyholders and the Florida market.

Wallace will stay on through the Florida legislative session that runs until March 9. Lawmakers are expected to consider a number of Citizens reforms designed to reduce the number of policies insured by the company.

Kentucky National Insurance has appointed David McMullen as its new president. McMullen comes to the company with 15 years of experience, most recently as the director of insurance for AAA Allied Group, Inc. In that position, he was responsible for overseeing the company’s sales operations in seven states. He has also worked in claims, marketing management, and been an agency owner. The Lexington, Kentucky-based Kentucky National is owned by Kentucky stockholders. The company’s auto, home and other personal lines insurance products are marketed through 170 independent agents in Kentucky and eastern Tennessee.

A three-time candidate for North Carolina insurance commissioner said he’s running again for the job. Republican Mike Causey kicked off his campaign in Dare County to draw attention to challenges facing coastal property owners.

Causey is a small business owner and retired insurance executive from Guilford County. He lost in the general election in 1992, 1996 and 2000 to Democratic incumbent Jim Long. Current Democratic Commissioner Wayne Goodwin is seeking re-election.

Beecher Carlson has expanded its national healthcare team by hiring Eileen Conlon as a managing director. Conlon has more than 20 years of experience and most recently served as managing director of Willis after it acquired HRH of Florida, in 2008. Conlon will be responsible for developing and managing healthcare accounts. She will also work with property/casualty clients such as commercial real estate owners.

Atlanta-based Beecher Carlson’s national healthcare team is led by Executive Managing Director Frank McKenna, who has 25 years of experience in the field. The company’s clients include large hospital chains, physician groups, surgical centers, managed care organizations, academic medical centers and teaching hospitals.

Tompkinsville independent insurance agent Bart Rowland will be the Republican nominee for a Kentucky House seat left vacant when former Rep. James Comer was elected state agriculture commissioner. Rowland was nominated last week by the Republican executive committees of Cumberland, Green, Metcalfe and Monroe counties. The special election is set for Feb. 7. Rowland Insurance Agency serves Kentucky and Tennessee.

St. Petersburg, Fla.-based LIG Marine Managers is opening a new office in Philadelphia. The office will cover businesses from the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. The office will be headed by Richard Zolty, who joined LIG in November, 2011. Zolty has 40 years of underwriting experience in workers’ compensation and longshore insurance. He has held management positions with various insurance companies including ACE USA. He is a member of the board of the California Workers’ Compensation Institute.

Chartis has appointed Murli Buluswar to the newly created position of chief science officer. Buluswar will be responsible for establishing a research and development function to study corporate business and claims data and help improve Chartis’ global commercial and consumer business strategies.

Chartis said Buluswar’s appointment 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. In a previous position with Farmers Insurance, he was vice president of insight and innovation, in which he established the internal analytics consulting group to identify business opportunities. Prior to Farmers, Buluswar was with Answer Financial. He has also served as business unit manager and product manager of strategic alliances for Progressive Corp. and senior statistician and business analyst for Capital One.