People – South Central

Bill McGhee, of McGhee Insurance Inc., in Little Rock, Ark., has been elected president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas.

McGhee previously served on the IIAA executive committee and board of directors.

Other elected officers include: President-Elect Mike Luttrell of Walker Bros. Insurance of Springdale; Vice President Phillip Greer of the M.F. Block Agency in Paragould; and Secretary/Treasurer Travis Mulhearn of Farris Agency Inc. in Conway.

Terry Youngblood of Youngblood Insurance Agency Inc. in Texarkana was elected representative to the Board of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA).

RiskPro Partners, a privately held insurance brokerage firm headquartered in Dallas, hired Julie Davis as vice president, Risk Management Services, in RiskPro Partner’s Austin office.

Davis has extensive experience in insurance and risk management. Davis has served as executive vice president for Aon Risk Services Technology Practice and led the National Practice for Emerging Technology firms. She worked at a super- regional brokerage firm, where she developed risk management programs for firms that operate in the collaborative sharing industry (P2P ride sharing, car sharing and real estate sharing). Davis also has served as executive director of the TechAssure Association.

Houston-based managing general agent (MGA), IMS/London American, hired Faith Davis as a commercial underwriter in its San Antonio office.

Davis has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance marketplace. Most recently she was the commercial underwriting manager at Specialty Insurance Managers in Austin.

She has extensive knowledge in commercial property/casualty business and has underwritten on behalf of most of the major surplus lines contract underwriting companies in the United States, and as a named underwriter on various Lloyd’s contracts.

Karen Mondshine joined insurance broker USI Insurance Services as national director of personal risk operations. She is based in Houston, and

will partner with USI’s regional and national teams to serve USI personal risk clients.

Prior to joining USI, Mondshine was vice president, marketing director, for the national broker Alliant. She has also served as operations manager at PLI Brokerage, a division of Chubb Insurance, and as national personal lines marketing manager for Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co.

USI is headquartered in Valhalla, N.Y.

The Austin Association of Insurance Professionals installed Janie Frias of Risk Placement Services as president for the coming year.

Other AAIP officers for 2016/2017 are: President-elect Bonnie Love, Higginbotham; Vice President Danny Journeay, Specialty Insurance Managers; Recording Secretary Lindsey Burton, Specialty Insurance Managers; and Treasurer Tamra Johnson, Wortham Risk Management.

AAIP directors for 2016/2017 are: Kimmi Cantwell, McGowan, Donnelly & Oberheu LLC; Nelda Dunlap, State Auto; Rhonda Whoolery, Risk Placement Services; and Tiffany Way, All Risks Ltd.

Frias also received the 2015/16 Insurance Professional of the Year award.

The Hartford appointed Mark Shults as division executive for Middle Market sales and underwriting operations in The Hartford’s Central Division. He is based in Frisco, Texas.

The Central Division encompasses central part of the United States, including Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Kansas City.

Shults joins The Hartford from Zurich, where he served most recently as national broker relationship leader. His prior roles at Zurich include regional executive for the South region in Atlanta and area executive in Houston.

Previously, Shults held leadership positions at McGriff, Seibels & Williams Inc., Willis, AIG and Assurant Group.

The Iroquois Group, an independent insurance agency network, is expanding into Louisiana and has tapped Cameron Cardinal to serve as regional manager for the state.

Cardinal formerly held marketing positions with Encompass, Zurich and CNA.

The group’s expansion announcement follows several months of meetings with prospective member agencies, carriers and trade association officials. Louisiana will become the seventh southeastern state in the Iroquois South region.

B&H Risk Services hired Kate Abbate to focus on business development in Houston and San Antonio.

Experienced in insurance underwriting and brokering, Abbate joined B&H Risk Services from Burns & Wilcox.

Abbate is based in Houston.