People – Midwest
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) elected Missouri Insurance Director John M. Huff to fill the vacant position of the office of president-elect.
The office was vacated on Jan. 20 when former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Michael F. Consedine left office.
Huff, a native of Potosi, Mo., was appointed as director of the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration on Feb. 6, 2009.
An attorney, Director Huff leads the department that protects consumers through the regulation of professionals and businesses that impact Missourians’ lives daily. The department regulates more than half a million insurance companies, banks, doctors, nurses and others.
One of his top priorities is using technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of license applications, renewals, complaints, enforcement actions and board and commission nominations.
The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies presented its State Legislator of the Year Award to Minnesota state Sen. James Metzen.
NAMIC said it honored Metzen for his support of free-market principles and taking strong positions to improve the insurance market in the state.
As chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, Metzen led a two-year effort to bring major attention to the issue of insurance fraud and its impact on Minnesota consumers. He appointed an interim Insurance Fraud Working Group, which heard from 70 witnesses and produced a matrix of issues for action to combat insurance fraud. This set the stage for a positive fraud reform bill in 2014 and led to a permanent Insurance Reform Subcommittee to formalize the debate for 2015 and beyond.
The NAMIC Legislator of the Year Award is a statuette of Benjamin Franklin, who founded the first successful mutual insurance company in America more than 260 years ago.
Steve Cotnoir has been appointed vice president – large casualty at St. Louis, Mo.-based Safety National Casualty Corp.
In his new role, Cotnoir will be responsible for leading large casualty field underwriting operations for several strategic regional office territories, including those handled out of the Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas regional offices.
Cotnoir joined Safety National in 2010. Prior to joining Safety National, Cotnoir held a number of increasingly-responsible underwriting and senior level management roles with several prominent national carriers.
Managing general agency and surplus lines broker, J.M. Wilson, added Andy Turley as branch manager of its Kansas City, Mo., office.
Turley will plan the day-to-day operations of the Kansas City office, coordinate the staff, and build relationships with new and existing independent insurance agents in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi.
Turley has many years of experience in the insurance industry. Prior to J.M. Wilson, he owned an insurance agency for 21 years. He was also a personal lines sales manager, as well as vice president of personal lines. Turley earned his Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF) designation from The American College of Financial Services, and is currently pursuing his CPCU designation.
Independent insurance broker Lockton added Patrick Georgia as senior vice president and employee benefits practice leader in Milwaukee, Wis.
As part of Lockton-Milwaukee, Georgia will help clients by developing benefit programs to meet their needs and manage risks in an evolving benefits landscape. He and his team consult with employers on the many aspects of plan design, including funding, marketing and analysis of employee benefit programs.
As practice leader, Georgia will also have responsibility for strategy development and implementation, organizing resources, and building out staffing needs.
Georgia has more than 18 years of industry experience, as well as eight years working with Humana. He was most recently senior vice president and Wisconsin health and benefits practice leader at Aon Hewitt.
Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Cameron M. Wilson & Associates promoted Amanda Goldberg to director of marketing and communication.
Goldberg’s duties will include maintaining existing and cultivating new relationships with retail insurance agents across the Midwest. As a customer of Cameron M. Wilson & Associates, retail insurance agents can expect to see Goldberg at various insurance related functions around Michigan, and to hear from her through communications from the Cameron Wilson office.
Previously, Goldberg worked as a policy technician while attending Western Michigan University, upon graduating she was brought on full time.
Cameron M. Wilson & Associates has operated as a managing general agent and surplus lines broker in Kalamazoo for 32 years.