People – South Central

The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers elected Bill Henry as the group’s 2016 chairman. Henry is CEO and chairman of Dallas-based MHBT, a Marsh & McLennan Agency company.

Henry succeeds Steve Brockmeyer, president and chief executive officer of Bolton & Co. in Pasadena, Calif.

Henry began his career in the insurance industry in 1972, selling and servicing Fortune 1000 accounts for the Texas Employers’ Insurance Association. He became manager of national accounts in 1979 and remained in that position until 1983, when McQueary & Henry Inc. was formed. Henry became president in 1987. In October 1996, Henry assumed the roles of chairman and CEO of McQueary Henry Bowles Troy.

As chairman of The Council, Henry leads a team of officers including Vice Chairman Robert Cohen, chairman and CEO, IMA Financial Group, Denver, Colo.; Treasurer David Eslick, chairman and chief executive officer, Marsh & McLennan Agency, New York; and Secretary Martin P. Hughes, Hub International, Chicago.

Wells Fargo Insurance, part of Wells Fargo & Co. appointed industry veteran Kristine Meuse to lead cross-sell efforts for its insurance brokerage and consulting (IBC) division. She is based in Dallas.

Meuse will work closely with Wells Fargo’s corporate and commercial banking groups to provide risk management and insurance services to customers.

Meuse joins Wells Fargo Insurance from Marsh, where she spent nearly 18 years in various leadership roles. She served as managing director and head of the Dallas office where she was responsible for revenue growth, profitability, client retention and recruitment. Most recently, Meuse was global risk management (GRM) leader at Marsh.

The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (Big “I”) installed a new leadership team with Randy Lanoix of Louisiana as chairman.

The agents’ group also installed Spencer Houldin of Connecticut as chairman-elect, Vaughn Graham of Oklahoma as vice chairman and Bob Fee of Kansas as an at-large executive committee member.

Lanoix is president of Lanoix Insurance Agency in Lutcher and Brusly, La. Lanoix served as president of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of Louisiana in 2001 and was the Louisiana representative on the Big “I” national board of directors from January 2005 to September 2010.

Houldin is president of Ericson Insurance Advisors, a second generation insurance agency with offices in Litchfield County, Conn., and New York City. From 2008 – 2011, Houldin served as chairman of the Big “I” Government Affairs Committee. He represented the state of Connecticut on the IIABA board from 2006 to 2011. In 2004, Houldin served as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Connecticut.

Graham is president of Rich & Cartmill Inc. headquartered in Tulsa, Okla. He is a past chairman of the Independent Insurance Agents of Oklahoma and has served on the Big “I” national board of directors. Graham was recognized in 2012 with IIAO’s highest honor, The Eagle of Excellence Award.

Fee is president and chief operating officer of Fee Insurance Group in Hutchinson, Kan. Fee currently serves on the board of directors for the Kansas Association of Insurance Agents (KAIA) and has represented Kansas on the national board of directors since 2013. He has also served on several KAIA committees, including the Government Affairs Committee, and was the 2007-2008 KAIA president.

The 2014-2015 Big “I” chairman, David Walker, who will serve on the executive committee as immediate past chair for one year, is president of Hartland Insurance Agency in Hartland, Mich.

The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) named Tim Nelligan, central division executive for The Hartford, as chairman of its Texas/Southeast division board of directors.

Nelligan assumes the chairmanship having previously served on the division’s board of directors for three years.

Nelligan has 29 years of experience in the insurance industry, 27 of which have been spent with The Hartford. He joined the company in 1988 as a casualty underwriter, and served as regional vice president of The Hartford’s Southwest regional office from 1997 to 2011, when he assumed his current role. As Central division executive, he is responsible for The Hartford’s property/casualty operations in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

IICF’s Texas/Southeast division was established in 2012 and is headquartered in Dallas. Serving a total of 13 states throughout the Southeast, the division also operates a chapter in Atlanta.

Texas Associates Insurors added Erik Peterson as a risk and insurance advisor, specializing in medical device, servicing and malpractice risk.

Peterson has experience in the industrial and medical device industries. His tenure in the insurance industry has afforded him the opportunity to develop a unique strategy to identifying the risks associated with businesses in these industries, allowing him to partner with business owners to identify and minimize the risk they may face before problems arise.

Texas Associates Insurors was founded in 1954, and offers insurance, employee benefits and risk management services. Texas Associates Insurors has offices in Austin and Smithville, and its affiliate NewFirst Insurors operates in El Campo, Victoria and Rosenberg. The firm is one of the founding members of the Insurors Group.

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies presented James Bradley (Brad) Fortner, chief operating office of Farmers Protective Mutual Insurance Co. in Rogers, Ark., with its Professional Farm Mutual Manager of the Year Award during the group’s 120th Annual Convention.

Fortner is a member of the NAMIC Merit Society Board, a multi-year participant in NAMIC’s Congressional Contact Program, and a participant in NAMIC PAC. He also is the current president of the Arkansas Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, and served in the same capacity in 2007 and 2004.

Fortner recently was appointed to the Arkansas Rural Risk Underwriting Committee by the Arkansas Department of Insurance.

Created in 2002, the Professional Farm Mutual Manager of the Year Award recognizes the achievements of a farm mutual manager who is dedicated to excellence in insurance company management.

Mike Boerner, director of the actuarial office for the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), is the 2015 recipient of the Robert J. Myers Public Service Award from the American Academy of Actuaries.

As chair of a task force for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Boerner helped develop a valuation manual for reserve requirements across states. He is a member of NAIC working committees on life risk-based capital and health actuarial policies.

Fortner is also a member of the American Academy of Actuaries Life Practice Council.

Kevin Brown joined Safeco’s Central Region Distribution team as a territory manager in Louisiana.

Brown has more than 14 years of experience in insurance and is experienced in workers’ compensation underwriting and loss control.

For the past 11 years he has worked in property/casualty agency management.

Brown is licensed in P/C and earned his CIC in 2001.