People – West

La Crescenta, Calif.-based Monarch E & S Insurance named Stefanie McLeod assistant vice president of personal lines heading up the personal liability division.

McLeod has been with Monarch for nearly 11 years. Before Monarch she was with Beitler Commercial Real Estate in Sherman Oaks, and before that she was a McDonald Farmers agent in Burbank.

Monarch has California branch offices in San Diego, Rancho Mirage, Simi Valley, Novato and Fresno, as well as branch offices in Arizona and Hawaii.

The Leavitt Group’s Concord, Calif., office named Paul Cardoso as an account executive in the employee benefits division.

Cardoso has a background in sales and has worked for various Fortune 500 companies, including Mohawk Industries, Xerox, United Airlines and Automatic Data Processing (ADP).

The Leavitt Group’s Bay Area, Sacramento, and San Jose offices are part of the Jenkins Insurance the Leavitt Group offers services including property/casualty, risk management and employee benefits.

State Compensation Insurance Fund named Dr. Dinesh Govindarao as its new chief medical officer.

As chief medical officer, Govindarao will represent State Fund as an advocate for California injured workers.

His duties include providing oversight of the organization’s medical provider network, working with State Fund’s claims medical division to develop policies, procedures, and programs that drive quality care for injured workers, and working with State Fund’s utilization review organizations.

Prior to State Fund, Govindarao served as vice president and medical director at Concentra, and as medical consultant to various organizations including NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Toyota.

State Fund is California’s largest provider of workers’ comp insurance. State Fund reports 130,000 policyholders and more than $1 billion in premium, and has partial autonomy from the state government – though it answers to the California Department of insurance like others in the industry.

Pleasanton, Calif.-based One Risk Group LLC named Sue Wakamoto-Lee vice president in its employee benefits practice.

At One Risk Group, Wakamoto-Lee will be responsible for client services and business development. Her expertise includes domestic and global employee benefits plans, retirement plans, human resources and legislation.

Wakamoto-Lee has 20-plus years of client advocacy and risk advisory experience. She previously worked for Arthur J. Gallagher and Mercer/Marsh.

One Risk’s services include employee benefits, risk management and business advisory services.

SullivanCurtisMonroe named John E. Melbon executive vice president of the employee benefits division.

Melbon has held senior level positions in management and sales, on both the carrier and broker side. Additionally, he founded Benefit Partners, an employee benefits consulting firm based in Newport Beach.

A full-service insurance agency focused on middle market companies, SCM offers commercial property/casualty, employee benefits and personal lines coverage. SCM has nearly 200 employees and serves a clients from its offices in Irvine, Los Angeles and Corona.

Merrilee Robbins was named senior account executive in The Buckner Co.’s trucking insurance division.

Robbins will work from the firm’s Ogden, Utah, office.

She has 23 years of experience in the insurance industry and 16 years’ as a trucking specialist.

Salt Lake City-based The Buckner Co. offers services including construction, trucking and transportation, employee benefits, surety bonds, restaurants, technology, and other industries they serve.