People – South Central

New Orleans-based insurance and risk management firm, Gillis, Ellis & Baker (GEB), promoted Jeff Howard to shareholder and vice president.

Howard joined GEB in 2011 as an insurance producer. He works with both personal lines and commercial property/casualty clients, where he specializes in cyber and pollution liability.

Howard earned the Environmental Risk Management (ERM) designation through the University of Houston’s Environmental Risk Strategies Institute and is a former Certified Public Accountant.

Starr Companies appointed Brian Bass as regional vice president for the South Central Region. Bass is located in Starr’s Dallas office, where he is responsible for the field leadership in the Southwest.

Bass has been in the insurance industry for more than 20 years. Previously, Bass was with AIG as a regional casualty executive – senior vice president responsible for management of all casualty business for the Dallas and Houston regional territory.

He is experienced in casualty underwriting, facultative and treaty reinsurance, insurance program management and underwriting staff management.

Alliant Insurance Services Inc. hired Christian Chauvin and Noah Hardie to serve as first vice presidents in its newly opened office in New Orleans, La. Chauvin and Hardie joined the Alliant Americas division.

Chauvin’s experience includes marine, oil and gas, financial services, real estate, private equity and construction. He was a vice president with a regional insurance brokerage firm prior to joining Alliant.

Hardie was a lead task force officer with the FBI, serving as a State Department representative to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and acting as a liaison among numerous government agencies, prior to joining Alliant. He has experience as a chief financial officer in the construction industry.

Alliant is based in Newport Beach, Calif.

The Insurance Council of Texas Education Foundation awarded a total of $32,000 in academic scholarships to 27 insurance and risk management students at six Texas universities: Huston-Tillotson University; Texas Southern University; University of Texas Rio Grande Valley; University of Texas at San Antonio; University of Houston Downtown; and University of Houston Main.

Scholarship recipients at Huston-Tillotson are Erica Ramos, DeNae Robbins, Ashlynn Payne and Barney Mutumha.

Scholarship recipients at Texas Southern University are Tiffany Tyler and Thuy Nguyen.

Scholarship recipients at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley are Parker Gallegos, Jose Nunez, Valeria Fasci, Jessica Aza and April Barron.

Scholarship recipients at the University of Texas at San Antonio are Levi Moreno, Jeff Becker, Danielle Fitzpatrick, Jaime Farji and Matthew Mack.

Scholarship recipients at the University of Houston Main are Leslie Davila, Tove Halvorsen, Christopher Cote, Renat Tatarin and Benjamin Biskynis.

Scholarship recipients at the University of Houston Downtown are Ayla Benavides, Calee Meurer, Julie Braun, Malinda Beckham, Rebecca Demby, Sheryl Pevy, Treston Cook and Zoraida Alviso.