People – South Central
Fort Worth-based Higginbotham has hired former U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investigator Ross Carmichael as the new vice president of compliance and operations for its employee benefits division.
Higginbotham brokers group health, life and disability insurance plans for employers and provides a single source solution for health risk management, benefit plan communications, human resources technology, employee call response and plan administration. The firm began offering compliance support last year in response to clients’ need for guidance with new healthcare regulations.
Carmichael will help employers interpret and comply with healthcare legislation and assist with employee education, reporting and disclosure, DOL audits and voluntary corrective measures.
In his operations capacity, he will manage the firm’s employee benefits practice for its 16 offices.
Carmichael is a member of the American Bar Association, State Bar of Texas, Tarrant County Bar Association and Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association.
Mary Barrow Nichols, senior vice president and general counsel for Texas Mutual Insurance Co., has been awarded the 2012 Magna Stella Award for Major Litigation from the Texas General Counsel Forum.
The Magna Stella Awards program recognizes in-house excellence in Texas corporations, organizations and government agencies. The finalists were nominated by peers and selected by a panel of independent judges.
Nichols was awarded a Magna Stella for Major Litigation based on three significant legal initiatives she has closed for Texas Mutual within the last year.
Lockton Dunning Benefits announced Josh Killian has joined the Dallas-based health and welfare benefits consulting practice as director of continuous quality improvement.
A Six Sigma Black Belt, Killian has more than 14 years of professional healthcare experience. Prior to joining Lockton, Killian served as a Six Sigma project manager at Cigna Healthcare.
Killian is the second member of the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) practice at Lockton Dunning Benefits. He joins Vice President and Six Sigma Green Belt Jessica Brickert who launched the specialty practice in 2009.
AMERISAFE Inc., a DeRidder, La.-based specialty writer of high hazard workers’ compensation insurance, announced that Jared A. Morris has been appointed to serve as lead independent director.
Morris will also continue to serve as the chair of the company’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. He has served as a director since 2005.
Ron C. Henderson has been appointed Deputy Commissioner of Consumer Advocacy for the Louisiana Department of Insurance.
Henderson previously served as attorney in the department’s Legal Division and as deputy commissioner of Licensing and Compliance. Before rejoining the department in February, he was in private practice.
Texas-based Combined Agents of America LLC (CAA) announced that Lauri Benefiel has joined the group as the new agency manager of its CAA Insurance Services (CAAIS) division.
CAA has 47 agency members in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
Benefiel, who has a background as an operations manager for a large insurance agency, will report directly to CAA’s second vice president Bill Martin.
Before joining CAA, she worked for Heffernan Insurance Brokers in northern California. Benefiel began her career at The Hartford in underwriting, sales, and finally management in their Select Customer Insurance Center.