People – Midwest

Republican and incumbent Commissioner Adam Hamm will continue to lead the North Dakota Department of Insurance after winning re-election against his Democrat challenger Tom Potter.

Hamm received just over 63 percent of the vote to Potter’s 36.5 percent.

An attorney, Hamm was appointed to the insurance commissioner post by Gov. John Hoeven in October 2007 and elected to a four-year term in November 2008.

Susanne Sclafane has joined property/casualty insurance media company, Wells Media Group, as senior editor. In her new position, Sclafane will be in charge of improving the company’s content and services to meet the information needs of high-level property/casualty insurance company executives.

Sclafane is an experienced insurance journalist who spent 16 years at National Underwriter Co., rising from staff writer to managing editor of that company’s flagship property/casualty magazine. Most recently, Sclafane was with the professional services firm, Advisen, where she had sole responsibility for several quarterly digital journals on management liability, employment practices liability and cyber insurance. Sclafane is based in New York.

Prior to entering insurance journalism, Sclafane, who has a degree in Mathematics, worked for the National Council on Compensation Insurance, The Atlantic Mutual Companies and Coopers & Lybrand in actuarial consulting and supervisory positions. She is a fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Wells Media Group is best known for its flagship Insurance Journal national and regional magazines, and website, www.InsuranceJournal.com. Wells Media Group opened its popular Academy of Insurance in 2011, re-launched its www.ClaimsJournal.com website and debuted its Claims Journal magazine in 2011, and recently unveiled a redesign of its insurance product website, www.MyNewMarkets.com.

Privately held insurance broker Lockton has named Tom Schaffler as president of its Chicago operation and Tom Pluss as chairman.

Schaffler is responsible for setting the vision and long-term strategies for the insurance broker’s fast-growing risk management and employee benefits business.

Schaffler succeeds Pluss, who founded the Lockton Chicago office and served as president for 17 years. Pluss will continue to advise clients on risk management and insurance issues and serve as chairman of the operation.

Schaffler has been a Lockton client advisor for 13 years, most recently serving as president of Lockton’s Chicago Employee Benefits operation. He will lead a team that has grown to more than 120 associates and has been voted as one of the Best Places to Work in Illinois the past five years. Lockton provides its clients with a wide range of risk management, insurance, and benefits consulting services.

Prior to Lockton, Schaffler worked with Associated Agencies as an executive vice president and with The Hartford, advising large companies on employee benefits.

Keystone Mutual, a medical professional liability insurer based in Missouri, has added Todd Dyer as vice president of Sales for the company’s northwestern region.

Dyer has more than 25 years of experience, in which he has developed strong relationships with professionals in the northwest region of Missouri.

Burns & Wilcox named John J. Karl as branch manager in Overland Park, Kan.

Karl will lead an expanding Burns & Wilcox office that specializes in solutions for hard-to-place risks. His office also serves Missouri and Oklahoma.

Karl comes to Burns & Wilcox after more than a decade with Zurich. Most recently Karl served as vice president, responsible for the marketing and brokerage of wholesale insurance products to a network of more than 215 producers.

Chicago-based TransUnion announced that Mark McElroy has joined the company as the new executive vice president of its insurance business unit.

TransUnion’s insurance business unit provides a range of data and analytic offerings to insurance companies to assist with customer acquisition, underwriting and fraud prevention.

McElroy has 22 years of industry experience. He was previously the CEO and president of the Balboa Insurance Group, a Bank of America company. Prior to his work with the Balboa Insurance Group, McElroy was the senior vice president, loan administration in the global home loans division for Countrywide Financial Corp. McElroy was also previously a senior financial analyst with Glendale Federal Bank.

Insurance wholesaler Insurance Program Managers Group (IPMG), based in St. Charles, Ill., has added Terry Dowty as specialty lines practice leader.

Dowty has more than 25 years of expertise in all areas of insurance. He has experience as an underwriter, broker and operations manager with standard lines insurance companies as well as excess and surplus lines underwriting experience.

Dowty will manage packages, general liability, professional liability, products and liquor liability with both standard lines and excess and surplus lines companies, according to the company’s announcement.

IPMG specializes in delivering insurance and risk management products and services to public entities, senior care providers and commercial brokers since 1997.

Amanda Pocius has joined as an account executive in insurance broker Lockton’s St. Louis, Mo., office. She will be responsible for client advocacy and new business development in property and casualty insurance for commercial clients.

Pocius has 13 years of experience in the property/casualty insurance industry. Most recently she was an assistant vice president in the Risk Management Department at Huntleigh McGehee. Prior to Huntleigh McGehee, Pocius worked at Aon Risk Services in St. Louis.

Pocius holds designations as a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Associate in Risk Management (ARM). She is the current past president of the CPCU Society in St. Louis.

Kelley Kinsella has been appointed senior vice president and regional executive officer for ACE USA’s Midwest Region.

Kinsella will be responsible for setting and driving overall strategy for the region, which comprises 13 Midwestern states, and includes ACE USA branch offices in Cleveland, Ohio, Minneapolis, Minn. and Kansas City.

Kinsella will be based in Chicago and will report to Ed Zaccaria, division president, ACE USA Regional Operations.

Kinsella returns to ACE USA Regional Operations from ACE USA Global Property and Specialty Lines where she most recently served as senior vice president for the western zone. She was previously chief operating officer for ACE USA’s Midwest region, where she was responsible for leadership and business development, and coordinating product line presence across the region.

Kinsella succeeds Scott McKeon, who has been appointed to the national role of senior vice president, distribution management, for ACE USA.

With more than 25 years of insurance and industry experience, Kinsella began her career at ACE’s predecessor company, CIGNA Property & Casualty.

With more than 20 years of experience in the insurance underwriting and brokerage arena, McKeon most recently served as senior vice president and regional executive officer of ACE USA’s Midwest region, a position he held since 2002. He joined ACE USA from Tri-City Brokerage in Chicago, a national wholesale broker, where he was vice president in its Casualty group.

AAA Minneapolis named Tom Sorel, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), as its new president and chief executive officer.

Sorel will join AAA Minneapolis effective Dec. 1. He will replace current President and CEO Steve Frank who plans to retire Jan. 31, 2013, and will serve in an advisory capacity to the club and to Sorel prior to that date.

Sorel has served as the commissioner of MnDOT since April 2008, assuming responsibility for the department during a time of crisis following the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis.

Prior to his current post, Sorel worked for 30 years in numerous positions around the country with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration.

Sarah Osborne, assistant vice president and healthcare actuary at Lockton Benefits Kansas City, was recently elected to the Management and Personal Development Council of the Society of Actuaries (SOA), the company announced.

The SOA selects three members to join the international council every year to serve a three-year term.

The Management and Personal Development Council’s mission is “to plan, implement and actively promote management and business skill development for members,” a mission that Osborne is dedicated to fulfilling within her roles with SOA and Lockton.

Sarah Morrison has been appointed chief legal counsel at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC).

Morrison will be a member of BWC’s executive staff responsible for coordinating all legal activities for BWC, providing legal advice and assistance, and acting as chief ethics officer for agency.

With 15 years of experience, Morrison was most recently a partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP in Columbus. She has specialized in all types of civil and commercial litigation, including complex litigation and class actions.