People – East

Zurich in North America (ZNA) appointed Dalynn Hoch as its new chief financial officer. She is based in Zurich’s North American headquarters in Schaumburg, Ill. Hoch succeeds Vibhu Sharma who has been appointed to the position of group controller at Zurich’s global headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. Sharma succeeds Malcolm Gilbert who will retire in 2013.

Hoch joined Zurich in 2009 as head of the North American Commercial’s finance planning and performance management team. Since July 2011, she has been on an international assignment that focused on multiple projects with finance teams around the globe. Prior to joining Zurich, Hoch was a partner at accounting firm KPMG.

Willis North America, part of global insurance brokerage Willis Group Holdings, announced two executive appointments for its Willis of New York unit. Louise Pennington has been appointed chief operating officer, Willis of New York. Prior to joining Willis, Pennington was managing principal at Integro Insurance Brokers.

Additionally, Alexandra Littlejohn has been appointed regional placement officer, Willis of New York. In this role, she will oversee $1.7 billion of insurance premiums placed into the marketplace on behalf of Willis’ New York and New Jersey clients. Previously, she was executive vice president at First Service Financial and managing director at Marsh Inc.

Kelly Norris has been named deputy director of the Glenmont, N.Y.-based Professional Insurance Agents associations of New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Hampshire and their affiliated organizations. Prior to joining PIA, Norris was the executive director of the New York State Society of Professional Engineers Inc., Albany, N.Y.

Connecticut Insurance Department tapped veteran risk management specialist John C. Thomson to head its new captive insurance regulatory unit. Prior to joining the insurance department, Thomson was an editor for International Risk Management Institute, the publisher of Captive Insurance Company Reports. Thomson also was the chief operating officer for Oil Casualty Insurance, an energy industry captive.

Starr Companies appointed Meredith Ryan-Reid as North American leader for the accident and health division. She is based in New York. She joins Starr with 15 years of industry experience, with both carrier and producer organizations.

Invision, a national claims management company providing third-party administration, claims auditing and other services, appointed Richard G. Randazzo as its new president. Randazzo brings to his new role three decades of experience in claims management as well as a 37-year history working in claims investigations.

Aon Risk Solutions, the global risk management business of Aon plc, appointed Robert Stein as U.S. middle market chief broking officer. He is based in New York City. Previously, he was a managing director with Marsh’s market consulting group.

ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operations of the ACE Group, appointed Mitchell Schmidt as senior vice president and regional executive officer for ACE USA’s Northeast region. Schmidt most recently served as senior vice president and national underwriting manager of ACE USA’s custom casualty and public entity units. He is based in Boston. Schmidt succeeds Karen Sothern, who assumes a new global role as change management officer for acquisitions at the ACE Group.

XL Group plc promoted Matthew V. O’Malley to a new role as head of environmental underwriting operations in XL Group’s insurance operations. He is based in Exton, Penn. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of planning and administration.