People – East

Utica Mutual Insurance Company in New Hartford, New York, announced that at a meeting of the board of directors on Nov. 6, the board approved the nomination of Richard Creedon as the next chief executive officer.

Creedon is currently the company’s president and chief operating officer. He will officially step into his new role in February 2016 when current CEO J. Douglas Robinson will retire.

Creedon joined Utica in 1998 as assistant vice president and director of workers’ compensation claims and has held progressively more senior positions. He was elected to the board of directors in 2012, and in December 2013 was appointed president and chief operating officer.

Utica offers personal and commercial insurance products and services through more than 2,300 independent agents and employs 1,400 people countrywide.

The Hanover Insurance Group has named Richard Lavey as its new president in charge of personal lines coverage. He’s a veteran executive of the Massachusetts-based U.S. property/casualty insurer who initially came on board a decade ago.

Lavey’s responsibilities will include homeowners, automobile and related insurance coverage for individuals and families. At the same time, he’ll keep his previous job with the company as The Hanover’s chief marketing officer.

Lavey first joined The Hanover in 2004 and has served in additional positions including president, field operations, and head of The Hanover’s Northeast region. Lavey also has strategic marketing experience from previous stints at The Hartford and Travelers.

Chicago-based global insurance broker Hub International Limited has hired John Farley as vice president and Cyber Risk Practice leader for East region operations.

In this role, Farley will be responsible for leading the risk management efforts for a newly developed cyber risk platform for Hub’s offices across the East Coast. Based out of the firm’s New York City office, he will work with Hub’s clients in achieving their cyber risk management goals and objectives.

Before joining Hub, he served as a senior risk management consultant at Wells Fargo Insurance Services. Prior to Wells Fargo, he was a risk management consultant at Marsh, and a national account claims examiner at Travelers.

Additionally, Hub International Northeast, part of Hub International Limited, hired Stephan T. Clegg as vice president of Private Client Services, responsible for business development and sales. He will be based out of the firm’s Summit, New Jersey, office.

Clegg previously served as senior vice president at Arthur J. Gallagher, where he was responsible for developing and maintaining personal insurance services for clients and oversaw a group of inside sales associates. Prior to that, he was an account executive at Personal Lines Insurance Brokerage Inc. (PLI).

CNA Financial Corporation hired David DeVinney as commercial underwriting officer for its branch offices in Long Island and Westchester, New York, and Hartford, Connecticut.

Based in New York, DeVinney will lead the strategy for the profitable growth of CNA’s Commercial Lines portfolio, as well as be responsible for effective responses to agents and brokers relating to CNA products and services.

DeVinney brings more than two decades of industry experience to CNA, including work in risk control, commercial middle market and property/casualty insurance. He previously worked as commercial lines manager at The Hanover Insurance Group.

Prime Risk Partners, a recently established national insurance distribution firm in Atlanta, hired Matthew McKenna as senior vice president. He is based in Buffalo, New York.

McKenna previously served as senior vice president, director at First Niagara Risk Management (FNRM) Specialty Markets. He has also worked at Macquarie Capital and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Prime Risk Partners was formed in May 2014 by private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners and two former Beecher Carlson executives Bret Quigley and Adam Meyerowitz. Thomas H. Lee Partners has said it plans to invest up to $200 million of equity capital to support the initiative. Prime Risk Partners will partner with property/casualty and employee benefits agencies that want to become part of a national insurance distribution firm, according to the firm’s announcement.

Privately-held insurance broker Lockton hired Karen Amato as director of Health Risk Solutions for the firm’s Washington, D.C., employee benefits operation.

Amato’s experience spans more than 25 years in hospitals and corporate settings, including loss control programs to manage the impact of workers’ compensation and disability claims.

As part of the Health Risk Solutions team, she will help employers identify trends in chronic disease and high-cost claims, then develop customized programs.