People – East
Risk Strategies Company, a privately held, national insurance brokerage and risk management firm, has hired Kate Genovese and Pauline Sobelman to its employee benefits practice group.
Sobelman joins as senior vice president in the group, and Genovese joins as senior strategic consultant. Both are based in Risk’s New York City offices.
With more than 40 years of combined experience in helping organizations obtain and manage employee benefit programs, Genovese and Sobelman bring knowledge in helping businesses overcome challenges offering comprehensive packages as new federal and state technology and regulatory changes take effect.
Sobelman’s practice work focuses on large and complex middle-market employers, spanning a variety of organization types and industries. Genovese supports the national Risk Strategies employee benefits practice by developing financial strategies for large, primarily self-funded clients. Over the course of her career, she has consulted and advised Fortune 500 companies in technology, healthcare and financial industries, developing short- and long-term benefit strategies.
Risk Strategies’ health and welfare group is a national provider of strategic employee benefits program consultation, including needs and compliance assessments, plan design, development and management.
The practice also offers services related to the assessment, selection and implementation of benefits technology systems.
Kaplansky Insurance, a Needham, Mass.-based insurance agency, has appointed David Wolberg as vice president of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Wolberg brings with him experience from the sell-side of mergers and acquisitions. He is licensed to practice law in both Massachusetts and New York, and he seeks to utilize his legal training to apply an analytical approach to the business arena.
“This is a very exciting time for M&A in the insurance industry,” said Wolberg in a press release issued by Kaplansky Insurance. “Private equity fueled consolidation has trickled down to even the smallest independently owned agencies.”
Wolberg’s appointment will enable the agency to provide continuous focus on M&A and to maintain its strategy of growth through selective acquisitions, Kaplansky Insurance President and CEO Ely Kaplansky said in the release.
During its recently held annual meeting at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Va., the Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia (IIAV) named Douglas B. Megill of McLean Insurance Agency chairman of the board of directors.
Megill is a third generation insurance agent in the Northern Virginia Area.
Hunter Odom of Suffolk Insurance Corporation was named chair-elect. Odom formerly held the position of first vice chair, now held by Dennis Winfree of Horizon Insurance Services.
Bruce Laderberg of Laderberg Bruce Insurance Agency was named the new District 2 director.
For the past year, the IIAV board of directors has made improvements, and those improvements are expected to continue with this new wave of leadership, according to a press release issued by the IIAV.
Lockton has hired Christina Zapantoulis as the leader of its marine team in its Northeast U.S. operations, based in New York City.
Lockton is a global professional services firm and privately held independent insurance broker.
In her new role, Zapantoulis will help clients develop risk management strategies and structure and negotiate and implement complex marine insurance programs. She will also lead a team of marine insurance professionals.
Zapantoulis previously worked at Krauter & Company in New York, where she was an executive vice president and property practice leader with experience in cargo, marine, builder’s risk and complex property programs. She also has experience at Marsh and as an underwriter at Chubb, specializing in property, marine and machinery.
Zapantoulis will be based in Lockton’s New York office.
RPA Insurance Services (RPA), a Parsippany, N.J.-headquartered insurance agency, has hired Leslie Sealey as a national accounts and middle market client service leader.
Sealey brings more than twenty years of insurance underwriting, sales and brokerage account management experience to her new role.
Prior to joining RPA, Sealey managed commercial insurance portfolios for several commercial retail brokers in the Los Angeles, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev., markets, with a recent focus on leisure, entertainment and hospitality accounts. She was a senior account executive for fifteen years with commercial and personal insurer Kaercher Insurance in Las Vegas.