People – West

Capital Insurance Group, a regional property/casualty insurer serving the Western U.S., has named L. Arnold Chatterton as president and CEO.

The decision by the board of directors and the appointment follows Peter Cazzolla’s announcement that he would be retiring his leadership role after a 21-year tenure with the company. As part of succession program Cazzolla will stay on in an advisory role.

During his 30 years in P/C insurance, Chatterton has held frontline agency and underwriting positions, as well as management and senior officer assignments with a Western regional and international insurance company.

CIG manages personal, business and agriculture risks underwritten by its affiliate companies: California Capital Insurance Co.; Eagle West Insurance Co.; Nevada Capital Insurance Co.; and Monterey Insurance Co.

Brian Macy, Brett Fellows and Wendy Schermerhorn have joined Leavitt Great West Insurance Services in Billings, Mont.

Macy will focus on commercial insurance for the oil, gas and hospitality industries. Fellows is an employee benefits advisor specializing in risk management and employee healthcare benefit solutions. Schermerhorn will focus on Medicare products along with exchange and life insurance.

Macy has nearly 20 years of experience specializing in commercial insurance for the oil, gas and hospitality industries.

Fellows has 20 years of experience in the medical industry, including serving as a sales executive, district sales manager, hospital sales specialist and business owner.

Schermerhorn’s first full-time job was in insurance, but she and her husband have also owned an auto body shop and car lot, and currently own Midwest Leather, a motorcycle gear shop.

Leavitt Great West Insurance Services, a Leavitt Group agency, was formed when Taylor-Leavitt Insurance Agency, Northern Montana Insurance Services and Mountain West Benefits merged in 2014.

Merriwether and Williams Insurance Services in California named Kathleen Creedon director of risk management services.

Creedon will focus on the development of Merriwether’s risk management services, including consulting, construction wrap-up services, safety and loss control, and contractual risk management.

Creedon has more than 25 years of industry experience. Prior to Merriwether, she was manager of risk consulting solutions with Bickmore Risk Services. She was previously the owner of her own wrap-up consulting services firm, Wrap Strategies, as well as vice president and program manager for Aon Risk Services.

Merriwether is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento. It specializes in providing commercial property/casualty brokerage services as well as a variety of surety and risk management services to California public agencies.

Leavitt Great West Insurance Services has named Kristina Murphy as a commercial account manager in the Choteau, Mont., office.

Her experience in the industry started with personal insurance, and she has worked in offices in Choteau, Cut Bank, Conrad and Great Falls.

Leavitt Great West Insurance Services, a Leavitt Group agency, were formed when Taylor-Leavitt Insurance Agency, Northern Montana Insurance Services and Mountain West Benefits merged in 2014.

San Francisco, Calif.-based Woodruff-Sawyer & Co. announced named Casey Soares a vice president and property specialist.

Soares will partner with client and prospect teams while serving as an additional resource for market negotiations with insurance and reinsurance carriers. She will be responsible for internal and external communication on market intelligence.

Prior to Woodruff-Sawyer, Soares was vice president in reinsurance treaty broking at Guy Carpenter & Co. She also led the Western region of GC’s largest specialty group, global property specialty.

Woodruff-Sawyer has offices throughout California, in Portland, Ore. and in Denver, Colo.

Tague Alliance has named John McLaren vice president of business development.

Tague Alliance is an SIAA master agency, and McLaren’s focus is to expand growth of the SIAA and Tague Alliance brand in the Orange County and Inland Empire areas of Southern California. McLaren will continue in his role as president of McLaren & Associates, an independent insurance agency specializing in commercial insurance for more than 10 years.

Prior to operating his independent agency McLaren served as a district manager for Farmers Insurance in Orange County.

Tague Alliance has more than 90 independent member insurance agencies located throughout Southern California.