People – West
EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants has hired Steve Hall as a property/casualty insurance broker/producer.
Hall will be based in EPIC’s Concord, Calif., office and report to Curt Perata, regional director of property/casualty operations.
Hall will be responsible for new business development and the design and management of insurance and risk management programs for clients across the region.
Hall has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry. He comes from Wells Fargo Insurance Services. He previously held sales/production positions with brokers Jenkins Insurance Services and Angelo & Associates.
EPIC is a retail property/casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and consulting firm.
United Valley Insurance Services Inc. has named Eric Rasmussen member relationship manager.
Rasmussen’s responsibilities include handling front line relationships with California member agencies as well as recruiting new members, keeping them informed about United Valley’s services, benefits, marketing, training, special programs and companies.
Rasmussen previously worked as an agribusiness underwriter.
United Valley Insurance Services is a membership network of 80 independently owned and operated insurance agencies with more than 100 locations in California and Arizona.
The members of the Surplus Line Association of California elected Chris Houska, Western region managing director of R-T Specialty LLC, chair of SLA’s board of directors.
Houska’s election was finalized after the SLA tallied the final ballots from members who were unable to attend the SLA Annual Meeting, which took place Feb. 16 and Feb. 18 in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Also elected to leadership were Tom Ciardello, senior executive vice president of Worldwide Facilities Inc., who becomes vice chair, and Robert Gilbert, director, underwriting and production with Markel West Insurance Services, who becomes secretary/treasurer.
Houska takes over from Denis Brady, president of Burns & Wilcox Brokerage, who completed his 2015 term as chair and was elected to a seat on the board.
Completing the 13-member board are the following individuals who also served on the 2015 board:
- Janet Beaver, HCC Casualty Insurance Services
- Ian Fitt, Catalytic Holdings LLC
- Rupert Hall, M.J. Hall & Company Inc.
- Chris Kiley, AMWINS
- Davis Moore, Worldwide Facilities Inc.
- Terri Moran, Vela Insurance Services
- Pam Quilici, Crouse & Associates Insurance Services of Northern California Inc.
- Les Ross, Wholesale Trading Co-Op Insurance Services LLC
- Gerald Sullivan, The Sullivan Group
SLA members also reelected Harry Low, a former insurance commissioner and retired presiding justice of the California Court of Appeal, as mediator.
All people elected to the 2016 board will serve until balloting is completed following the SLA annual meeting in February 2017.
San Francisco-based SLA operates as a self-governed private organization. The association serves as the statutory surplus line advisory organization to the California Department of Insurance.
Woodruff-Sawyer & Co. named Michael Landucci vice president and account executive of the firm’s San Francisco, Calif.-based construction practice.
He has 14 years of experience. Landucci was with the construction and real estate group at Wells Fargo Insurance prior to Woodruff-Sawyer. He began his career at Liberty Mutual in 2002, where he focused on workers’ compensation before moving on to join Allied North America, which was acquired by AON in 2009.
Woodruff-Sawyer is an independent insurance brokerage, and a partner of Assurex Global and International Benefits Network.
Irvine, Calif.-based Burnham Benefits Insurance Services Inc. has named Alexandra Dix as an account executive.
Dix is an experienced broker consultant. She spent the previous six years at Moore Benefits before joining Burnham.
Burnham Benefits is an employee benefits consulting and brokerage.
Lafayette, Calif.-based Stone Creek Insurance Agency has named Maridel Hansen front office manager in its Northern California office.
Hansen has more than 10 years of insurance experience ranging in duties from supervision to customer service. Her past positions include claims and underwriting with Farmers Insurance, employment at Liberty Mutual.
Stone Creek is a brokerage that specializes in property coverage in the Western U.S.