People – Southeast

OneBeacon Technology Insurance Group has appointed Nathan Martin as vice president overseeing the South region.

John Wurzler, OneBeacon Technology president, said Martin will work on continuing to building the company’s business and relationships in the Southern states.

Martin has 20 years of industry experience, primarily in underwriting and leadership positions, focused on the technology sector. In his new role, he will service Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Nikki Hawkins, an agent with insurance company claims handling and insurance legal experience, has opened a new Brightway Insurance office in Orange Park, Fla. Brightway, The Hawkins Agency, brings the number of Brightway agencies in Northeast Florida to 28.

Brightway Insurance is a national property/casualty insurance retailer selling through a network of franchised independent agencies throughout the country.

Hawkins has her claims education designation through the Insurance Institute of America, and is in the process of completing her CPCU designation.

As a Brightway agent, Hawkins has access to nearly 100 insurance companies selling home, flood, auto, umbrella, motorcycle, boat and RV, and life insurance. Brightway operates more than 110 franchise locations in nine states.

The Main Street America Group has appointed Chris Cox as president of the carrier’s newly-created Florida region. Main Street America’s primary brand in Florida is Old Dominion Insurance Co.

In his new position, Cox will remain based at the company’s corporate headquarters in Jacksonville and report to Jeff Kusch, Main Street America’s senior vice president and head of field operations.

Since 2010, Cox led Main Street America’s distribution management function, where he was responsible for executing agency management best practices companywide. Cox also led the company’s National and Regional Agency Councils, which collectively provide a forum for independent agent-customers to share feedback and suggestions with company management.

Cox joined Main Street America in 2008 as a personal lines product manager. In 2010, he moved to the company’s field operations unit to become director, distribution management. In 2011, he was appointed as a company officer and in 2013, elected as an assistant vice president.

JLT Specialty USA has added an environmental team to provide environmental brokerage and advisory services in energy, construction, environmental professional, finance and aerospace sectors.

The individuals appointed to this team include Greg Schilz, executive vice president and JLT USA Environmental leader; Michael McGinn, senior vice president; and Jamin Valdez, vice president.

The environmental team will be complemented by Cynthia Evanko Olinger, PhD, who joins JLT Specialty USA as senior vice president and Construction Professional Liability leader. In this capacity she will work with the Environmental Practice in collaboration with other JLT Specialty units.

Prior to joining JLT Specialty USA, Schilz was a managing director at Aon Risk Solutions, where he was the national sales leader for the Aon Environmental Services Group and managed the West region Environmental Practice. From 2002 to 2006, Schilz was a partner at Breitstone & Co. Ltd. and at Marsh, where he started his career in 1987. He managed the west region for both firms and was responsible, nationwide, for designing and building environmental insurance programs and analyzing environmental loss exposures. He’s also been working with private equity firms in acquisitions.

Most recently, McGinn was a business development director for ENTRIX (now part of Cardno) in Chicago and led business development efforts on litigation, due diligence and expert services targeting outside counsel and companies. Prior to that he was at Navigant Consulting in Chicago where he teamed with the Insurance and Claims and Energy practices. Previously McGinn was a managing director at Marsh, where he founded the Midwest Environmental Practice. He then assumed leadership of the Midwest Power and Utility Practice.

Valdez comes to JLT Specialty USA from Aon Risk Solutions where he has been an account executive since 2011. Prior to that he led the Environmental/Pollution unit of D.L.D. Insurance Brokers Inc., from 2006 to 2011 and from 2004 to 2006 was a risk specialist for AIG Environmental. From 1998 to 2004 Valdez worked as an environmental professional, holding positions as SECOR International Inc., (now part of Stantec Inc.), ATC & Associated (now part of Cardno) and Applied Science and Technology, Inc.

Evanko Olinger most recently served as a director with Aon Risk Services, where she specialized in construction, professional and pollution liability exposures and insurance. Previously, she held consulting roles with companies including Geosyntec Consultants and Risk Enterprise Management, where she performed engineering evaluations and design, project management, and technical and financial analysis of environmental insurance claims.