People – Southeast
The president of Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Scott Wallace, plans to retire at the end of May 2015 after 37 years in the insurance industry, according to the parent company, HCI Group, Inc. (HCI). The 63 year-old Wallace joined HCI Group in 2012.
Paresh Patel, HCI Group’s chairman of the board and chief executive officer, and executive chairman of Homeowners Choice, will assume charge of the company. Patel served as president of Homeowners Choice from 2011 to 2012.
“We thank Scott for his important contributions to HCI Group, and leading Homeowners Choice through an extraordinary period of growth and profitability,” said Patel. “Scott leaves behind a strong well-prepared management team.”
Willis North America has appointed Joe Peiser as head of Casualty Broking. In this newly created role, Peiser will be responsible for the strategic direction of Willis North America’s casualty insurance offerings including workers’ compensation, primary and excess casualty, product recall and international casualty products. He will work with Willis specialty practices and global industry groups and collaborate with Willis’s risk and analytics team.
He will report to Matt Keeping, chief broking officer, Willis North America.
Since September 2014, Peiser has been serving as a strategic insurance market advisor with Willis Capital Markets and Advisory.
Based in New York, N.Y., Peiser has 28 years of experience in the insurance industry. Previously, he was president of Wright Specialty Insurance Agency and prior to that he had a long career at Marsh Inc. and one of its predecessor companies, Johnson & Higgins.
IFG Companies announced that Michael A. Fleischer has joined as executive vice president and chief underwriting officer. He will be responsible for policies, practices and procedures relating to group-wide underwriting. He will be based in IFG’s Alpharetta, Ga. office.
Fleischer has three decades of insurance underwriting experience, with much of it in excess and surplus lines. Fleischer spent 15 years with the Chubb Group in a number of underwriting and management positions, including liability manager for Europe while he was based in London. After Chubb, Fleischer worked at ACE Westchester for nine years, where he served as vice president of ACE Bermuda’s liability underwriting division and later worked as chief underwriting officer in its Specialty Group’s Casualty Division. Subsequently, Fleischer joined Argo Group International Holdings as chief underwriting officer of U.S. Operations. In addition, Fleischer served as an executive vice president and chief underwriting officer of Argo’s Excess and Surplus Lines segment from 2010 through mid-July 2014.
IFG Companies provides property/casualty insurance on both a non-admitted basis and an admitted basis through The Burlington Insurance Co., First Financial Insurance Co., Alamance Insurance Co. and Guilford Insurance Co.
GEICO has opened a new local office in North Miami that will be headed by Gilbert Suarez and a team of five licensed agents at the location.
Suarez and his staff, made up of agents Diana Suarez, Armando Amador, Milena Arza, Carlui Marrero and Hugo Gonzalez, have more than 60 years of insurance industry experience. Along with auto policies, the team will work with clients on boat, renters, homeowners, RV and more forms of insurance, and offer savings through multi-line discounts. All team members are bilingual to serve Miami area’s Hispanic community.
Prior to opening the North Miami local office, Suarez ran an insurance agency with more than 7,000 clients.
Philadelphia Insurance Companies, the Pennsylvania-based commercial lines and professional liability insurer, promoted two vice presidents to senior vice presidents.
Bob Morgan is now senior vice president of underwriting and Seth Hall assumes the position of senior vice president of customer service.
Morgan will continue oversight of the Habitational, Real Estate, and Small Business Unit (commercial property) segments in his new position. Morgan has a 35-year career in the insurance industry. He joined Philadelphia Insurance in 2006 as vice president of the Habitational Division and his role was expanded to include oversight of real estate products in 2014.
Hall joined Philadelphia Insurance in 2009 as vice president of customer service. Over the past five years, his key responsibilities have expanded to include the oversight and direction of the account management team.
Liberty International Underwriters (LIU), part of Liberty Mutual Insurance, has named Valoree Celona to the new position of senior vice president of Medical Professional Liability Insurance. Celona will oversee LIU’s national medical malpractice underwriting team and spearhead expansion of LIU’s current medical malpractice offerings.