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Dallas-based insurance and risk management firm Dexter & Company has added Jeff Twitty to its team as senior vice president and promoted Stephen Bivins to vice president.

A seasoned insurance professional with more than 30 years of commercial insurance experience, Twitty joins Dexter from Frost Insurance where he was market president in Dallas. Prior to joining Frost, Twitty was senior vice president of Operations and chief operations officer at McGriff, Seibels & Williams, a full-service insurance brokerage.

Bivins has been an agent at Dexter & Company since 2012, managing a diverse portfolio of personal and commercial clients. Bivins’ clients include high net worth individuals, music festivals, multifamily living, and hospitality across the United States and abroad.

Prior to joining Dexter & Company, Bivins served as vice president at Dallas Christian School, as well as director/major gifts officer at Baylor Health Care System.

Founded in 1876, Dexter & Company has offices in Dallas, College Station and Plano, Texas. The firm offers a full menu of services ranging from personal health insurance, standard property insurance, and high-net-worth coverage to a complete range of commercial coverages including cyber liability, officers and directors’ liability, and workers’ compensation policies.

Mark Liotta has been named as chairman of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission.

Liotta, a former state representative from Tulsa, succeeds Robert Gilliland, whose term on the commission expired on Aug. 25. Appointed to the commission in 2015, Liotta has completed two years of a six-year term.

He was serving as chief deputy to the Tulsa County Board of County Commissioners and as chairman of the Oklahoma Employees Insurance and Benefits Board, which used to be known as OSEEGIB, the Oklahoma State and Education Employees Group Insurance Board, when the governor appointed him to the Workers’ Compensation Commission.

He gained his workers’ compensation experience working 18 years for MESA Products and MESA Corrosion Control, a Tulsa-based construction/manufacturing/technical services firm serving the pipeline and petroleum storage industry.

California-based Confie, a national insurance brokerage network for personal lines and small commercial insurance, appointed Cesar Soriano as chief executive officer. He has been chief operating officer for Confie since 2016.

Mordy Rothberg, the company’s founder and executive chairman, will continue to serve in the same capacities.

Prior to Confie, Soriano was president and chief operating officer of Interstate National, a provider of finance and insurance products and services. His background also includes roles as CEO and president of RSM McGladrey Financial Process Outsourcing, as well as positions with TravelCick, Bowne Corp., Dun and Bradstreet, and Xerox Corp. Before joining the private sector, he was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army.

Confie is a portfolio company of ABRY Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm that acquired a majority interest in 2012.

Established in 2008, Confie today has 800 retail locations and generates annual revenues of approximately $500 million. The company sells in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Illinois, Alabama, Kansas, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Missouri, Louisiana and Indiana, and plans to expand in those and other states including Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina.

Newport Beach, Calif.-based insurance and risk management services firm, Alliant Insurance Services, has added Billy Bray as vice president within the company’s Alliant Americas division. He is based in Houston.

Prior to joining Alliant, Bray was vice president with a national insurance and financial services firm. In this role, he worked with clients to develop strategies focused on risk transfer, self-insurance, coinsurance, cost reduction, and overall risk mitigation.

Alliant Insurance Services also opened an office in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, led by Steve Gaffney and Scott McLaughlin.

Gaffney joins Alliant as senior vice president with more than 35 years of experience, and is regarded for his ability to deliver highly strategic risk and insurance solutions that improve business outcomes. He previously served as senior vice president with a regional insurance brokerage firm, specializing in high-risk property/casualty accounts.

Joining Alliant as vice president, McLaughlin is a 23-year insurance veteran specializing in the design and deployment of technical, heavy casualty insurance solutions with an emphasis on construction, environmental and marine exposures.

Prior to joining Alliant, he was vice president with a regional insurance brokerage firm, serving clients across a broad spectrum of industries.

Chicago-based CNA appointed Justin Lash as vice president of the company’s Nashville and New Orleans franchises.

In this role, he reports to Rob Huber, senior vice president and southern zone officer.

Lash has more than 14 years of insurance industry experience. He joined CNA in 2010, and has held several leadership roles at the company. He began his career at The Hartford.

SWBC Insurance Services, based in San Antonio, has added Nicole Shuler to its division to Kerrville, Texas. Based in Kerrville, she specializes in both personal and business insurance.

Shuler has nearly 15 years of experience working with SWBC Insurance Services. She can offer a wide array of products and services including home, auto, boat, motorcycle, RV insurance, and excess liability for new and existing clients.

Shuler holds her Texas General Lines Property and Casualty Agent license, Life and Health Insurance Agent license, and Certified Insurance Service Representatives (CISR) designation.

She is joining SWBC Mortgage Loan Officer Leslie Barnet, who already offices in Kerrville.

Texas Department of Insurance Deputy Commissioner for Agency Affairs Kevin Brady has retired effective Aug. 31, after 33 years with the agency.

As deputy commissioner for Agency Affairs, Brady oversaw government relations and strategic planning. He also served as an adviser to the commissioner and as an agency liaison for stakeholders, including industry trade associations.

He began his TDI career in 1984 as a financial examiner, examining insurers for solvency issues. Brady also previously served as deputy commissioner for financial, associate commissioner for licensing and deputy chief of staff, among his other positions at TDI.

Brianne Head, director of Client Services for Independent Insurance Group Inc., in Dallas, Texas, has received the 2017 National Outstanding CSR of the Year Award from the Society of Certified Insurance Service Representatives (CISR) and the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors (CIC).

Head was named as the winner of this award from a field of 37 state winners. She was praised by an associate for “her knowledge of coverage, agency and industry procedures, and her delightful demeanor in all circumstances with underwriters, clients, and internal staff. Therefore, she is trusted to handle the agency’s largest and most complex clients.”

Head receives a cash award of $2,000, a distinctive gold and diamond lapel pin, and her name is inscribed on a sculpture on permanent display at the headquarters of The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research in Austin, Texas.

A scholarship will be awarded to her employer, Independent Insurance Group Inc., for participation in any National Alliance program.

In addition to the selection of Head as the national award recipient, four national finalists were chosen from a particularly competitive field of applicants: Jennifer D. Fryar with Sullivan Insurance Agency in Ardmore, Oklahoma; Pamela A. Grimes with VFIS of North Carolina/Anders, Ireland & Marshall Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina; Demetra J. Ramey with CRS Insurance Brokerage in Denver, Colorado; and Brenda A. Sells with Theodore Tunick & Company in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands.