People – Midwest

Privately owned insurance brokerage firm, Hylant, has promoted Jeff Lumpp to president of its Grand Rapids, Mich., office.

Lumpp will be responsible for building greater brand awareness, growing the Hylant business in West Michigan and further developing Hylant’s team of professionals.

Prior to joining Hylant in 2016, Lumpp held several executive-level positions with Fifth Third Bank, including regional CFO for Fifth Third Bank, Northwest Ohio. He is licensed as a property and casualty agent in the state of Michigan.

Lumpp replaces Greg Nemmers, who will transition into a commercial client executive role and senior vice president within the Grand Rapids office, in addition to working within Hylant’s Alternative Risk Practice across all Hylant offices.

Jeff Cunningham has joined American Risk Management Resources Network LLC (ARMR) in Madison, Wis., as director of underwriting for its managing general agency through Berkley Specialty.

Cunningham leads the MGA, which primarily handles GL/CPL/professional combined policies for restoration contractors and environmental contractors, as well as standalone contractor’s pollution liability policies for both environmental and non-environmental contractors.

Cunningham comes from an environmental brokerage background working with brokers Willis, Marsh and Hub International in New York City, and most recently in Ft. Lauderdale at SLB Insurance Group.

Illinois-based global insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. hired Christopher E. Mead as its new chief marketing officer. Mead will be responsible for leading the company’s global marketing and communications efforts, reporting directly to Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer J. Patrick Gallagher Jr.

Mead joins Gallagher from the CME Group, the futures exchange, where he has been since 2005 and where as CME’s managing director of marketing, he helped shape the company’s global strategic direction and was responsible for global marketing strategies, planning and implementation activities. Prior to that, he served as vice president of Corporate Marketing, Advertising and Business Communications for Chicago-based CNA Financial Group from 2000 to 2005.

Managing general agency and surplus lines broker J.M. Wilson promoted Chris Russon and added Travis Lankerd in its Portage, Mich., office.

Russon was promoted to property/casualty underwriter. She is responsible for quoting new and renewal accounts for a wide variety of commercial property and casualty risks, as well as issuing policies and servicing accounts for independent insurance agents. Russon was hired in 2014 as a transportation technician, before being promoted to senior property/casualty technician in 2016

Lankerd was hired as a brokerage underwriter, responsible for quoting and binding new and renewal business submissions with the appropriate markets. Previously, Lankerd was a brokerage intern for Worldwide Facilities Inc. and CRC Swett, and an underwriting intern for Navigators Excess Specialty.

CNA appointed Kevin Smith as president and chief operating officer for CNA Specialty. Smith will succeed Mark Herman who recently announced his resignation.

In this role, Smith will be responsible for CNA’s Specialty business, which includes professional and management liability, financial institutions, healthcare and other specialized property/ casualty insurance products and services, as well as the company’s surety, warranty and service contract business.

He is based in Chicago and will report to Dino E. Robusto, chairman and chief executive officer, CNA.

Most recently, since 2016, Smith has served as executive vice president and North American field strategic development officer for Chubb. He was responsible for coordinating Chubb’s distribution relationships, field analytics and producer compensation and prospecting/cross-sell initiatives.

Angelo Galioto has joined insurance broker Lockton Companies as a senior vice president in its Minneapolis office. Lockton is the world’s largest privately held, independent insurance broker.

Galioto brings 20 years of experience in the risk management industry. He spent more than 15 years as senior vice president at Wells Fargo Insurance and spent four years as the commercial underwriting manager at The Hartford.

Alex Petrovich also joined Lockton Companies as vice president in its Omaha, Neb., office.

Petrovich has a decade of experience in commercial insurance, risk management, and employee benefits across a number of industries. He joins Lockton from Arthur J. Gallagher and Co. where he spent two years as a sales executive. Prior to his role at Gallagher, Petrovich established his insurance expertise at Mutual of Omaha and at Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary for eight years.

Linda Stueber has joined Ohio-based Nationwide as the new vice president of Construction for Standard Commercial, the insurer announced.

Stueber has 25 years of experience in commercial lines– with the past 20 years focused specifically on construction. She has been with Travelers since 1996, most recently serving as the construction and operations leader for the Southern and Midwest regions.

Imprise Financial PCC Inc., based in Cleveland, Ohio, added Derek Thomas as an account executive. He will serve the company’s captive insurance clients with an emphasis on enterprise risk programs.

Thomas will focus on helping small and mid-size companies evaluate and establish captive insurance programs. He has more than 10 years of experience in the insurance industry.

Imprise Financial is a captive insurance provider specializing in enterprise risk programs that help small and midsize companies fill the gaps in their risk management programs.

Willis Towers Watson appointed Thomas Zacharopoulos as Midwest leader for its Financial Institutions Industry group.

Zacharopoulos will be responsible for business development and delivering the full scope of the company’s distinctive financial institution capabilities to its corporate risk and broking (CRB) clients in this region.

Based in Chicago, Zacharopoulos will report to Michael O’Connell, Financial Institutions Industry leader for North America.

Zacharoploulos has 30 years of experience in the insurance and risk management industry. Prior to joining Willis Towers Watson, he served as head of market relations at Integro Insurance Brokers, and before that, as managing director at Marsh holding various leadership roles.

Willis Towers Watson also appointed John Puetz as corporate risk and broking (CRB) segment leader for the Missouri/Kansas market.

Puetz joined Willis Towers Watson seven years ago and was voted a member of the Willis Exceptional Producer Council for two consecutive years. Prior to joining the company, Puetz ran his own property/casualty insurance brokerage in Kansas. He also has worked for Benfield Corporate Risk and Marsh.

Allied World added Hugo Carson to its team as vice president, Accounts Receivable Insurance. He is based in Chicago.

Carson has over a decade of credit insurance underwriting experience to Allied World.

Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG, through its subsidiaries and brand known as Allied World, is a global provider of property, casualty and specialty insurance and reinsurance solutions.