People – West
Matthew Nichols has been elected president of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices Ltd. (NAPSLO) for the 2013 term.
Nichols has served on the NAPSLO board since 2005 and has chaired several committees.
Currently, he is the president of All Risks Ltd., a large independent property/casualty wholesale insurance brokerage firm. Previously, Nichols held senior positions at Colony Management Services Inc. in Richmond, Va., throughout his 20-year insurance career.
NAPSLO is a national trade association representing the surplus lines industry and the wholesale insurance marketing system.
NIF Group Inc., a program administrator and managing general agent, named Vince Terlaje president of NIF Pacific, which is NIF’s Bothell, Wash. office.
Gordy Phelps, formerly president, will serve as managing director for NIF in the Pacific office. The change is effective immediately.
Manhasset, New York-based NIF Group is privately held and operates out of six branch offices across the U.S.
Martin J. Welch was named chief executive officer and senior underwriting executive at Hawaii Employers’ Mutual Insurance Co. Welch was also named president of HEMIC Insurance Managers Inc., a HEMIC subsidiary.
Welch has more than 30 years of workers’ compensation and commercial property/casualty experience. He most recently served as president and chief operating officer for Employers Holdings Inc., a publicly traded workers compensation specialty carrier headquartered in Reno, Nev.
Prior to Employers, he spent 25 years with the former Wausau Insurance organization, serving in various underwriting, marketing, management and executive roles.
SullivanCurtisMonroe Insurance Services LLC named Canaan Crouch as a vice president in its Irvine, Calif. office.
SCM also named Randall Mitchell as a property-casualty consultant in its Irvine office.
Crouch comes from ACE Environmental, where he was an assistant vice president and northwestern regional manager responsible for managing the profit and loss of a diversified book of environmental liability policies. Prior to joining ACE, he was a senior underwriter for AIG and before that he was an environmental consultant, where he managed the environmental compliance for a portfolio of sites throughout Southern California.
Mitchell will focus on building out the firm’s real estate and food divisions.
He has eight years of experience in the banking industry. Mitchell joins SCM from Bank of Manhattan, N.A., where he was vice president/relationship manager. Prior to that he was with Northern Trust Bank, N.A. and 1st Century Bank, N.A.
SCM is focused on middle market companies, offering offers commercial property-casualty, employee benefits and personal lines coverage. SCM has offices in Irvine, Pasadena and Corona.
The Leavitt Group’s Sacramento, Calif. office named Chris Sindle as an adviser in the professional liability program.
Sindle will provide risk management solutions for law firms, including malpractice audits, educational seminars, employee benefits programs and claim services.
Most recently Sindle was an owner of CRS Professional Insurance with experience in insurance sales, administrative management and customer service.
The Leavitt Group is a privately-held insurance brokerage. The Leavitt Group’s Bay Area, Sacramento, and San Jose offices are part of the Jenkins Insurance Services agency.