People – South Central

Texas-based LevelFirst, the wholesale broker and MGA binding facility owned by IIAT Services Co., has appointed Heath McCasland as vice president.

McCasland will assume the responsibility of brokering new business opportunities within the wholesale brokerage and MGA business units.

McCasland has more than 20 years of experience in commercial insurance marketing, underwriting and brokerage.

Most recently, McCasland was vice president, broker/producer at USG Insurance Services where he served for more than 10 years.

Wholesale insurance broker Midlands Management Corp. has added Jennie Reed to the Texas property/casualty excess and surplus team as a senior broker/underwriter.

With more than a decade in the industry, Reed began her career as a commercial account manager at an independent insurance agency. She continued to accumulate experience at top wholesale brokerage houses becoming expert in commercial brokerage, contract underwriting, sales and building agency relations.

Reed will focus on developing and expanding Midlands’ hospitality offering. She also has expertise in contractors, professional liability and property markets.

Texas-based Higginbotham hired Bernie Henyon as associate of personal property/casualty insurance in the insurance firm’s Fort Worth headquarters.

Henyon provides home, automobile and liability insurance services to high net worth individuals in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

For the past four years, Henyon has been an associate pastor at HighRidge Church in Fort Worth, overseeing 35 life groups and a $5 million capital campaign while counseling congregation members.

Ministry was a career change for Henyon, who owned an Allstate Insurance Co. affiliated firm 1988-2011 that sold property/casualty and life products.

State Auto Insurance Co. selected Gayle Ramsey to lead the company’s Western region as commercial lines regional director. She is based in Austin, Texas.

Ramsey joined State Auto in 2013 as an underwriter in State Auto’s practice groups and then moved to large account solutions, where she served agents in the Central and Western regions.

She has prior underwriting, sales and management experience with The Hartford and Hanover in addition to eight years of production experience with large agents.

Ramsey most recently served as the regional underwriting consultant for the Western Region.

Houston-based MGA, Select Insurance Markets, added Pedro Castaneda to its marketing team. He is based in Austin, Texas.

Castaneda previously was sales manager at Superior Access, in charge of marketing for Texas, and the Gulf and East Coast states. He also has worked several agencies, both captive and independent, and at Progressive.

Castaneda began his insurance career after a distinguished six years in the U.S. military.

Select Insurance Markets LP writes only personal lines and has a premium volume in excess of $120 million.