People – West

Dietz, Gilmor & Chazen has promoted Robert E. Robinson, Richard A. Lynn and Robert Lance to partners in the firm in California.

All three newly promoted partners were previously with Dietz, Gilmor & Associates, before the firm became Dietz, Gilmor & Chazen in 2012. All three have most recently served as managing attorneys for the firm.

Robinson was previously a managing attorney with McDermott & Clawson. Lynn was previously an associate attorney with Gray & Prouty. Lance was previously an associate attorney with Reff & Ruggiero.

DGC practices in workers’ compensation defense, subrogation, asbestos, labor code §132a, and serious and willful misconduct claims.

Woodruff-Sawyer & Co. has named Brandi Kyle vice president in employee benefits in the firm’s Portland, Ore., office.

Kyle has 15 years of insurance experience. She was previously with Wells Fargo Insurance as an employee benefits consultant. She was a lead consultant with Mercer Health & Benefits before that.

San Francisco, Calif.-based Woodruff-Sawyer has offices throughout California, and in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Hawaii and New England.

Heffernan Insurance Brokers has promoted Brenda Grootendorst to branch manager of the firm’s Portland, Ore., office.

Grootendorst, who is a senior vice president in the firm, has more than 30 years of insurance and risk management experience.

Grootendorst was a principal shareholder of the insurance agency Fullerton & Co. prior to joining Heffernan.

Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Heffernan has California offices in San Francisco, Petaluma, Menlo Park, Los Angeles and Irvine, as well as in Phoenix, Ariz., Portland, Ore., and St. Louis, Mo.

USG has promoted Jenny O’Brien to branch manager in its Irvine, Calif., office.

O’Brien will continue to develop USG’s California territory while managing the Irvine branch office.

She was formerly a production manager. O’Brien started with USG in 2012 as producer/broker and was promoted to production manager in 2014.

USG has 21 locations and four subsidiaries; USG

Insurance Services Inc. a national wholesaler/MGA; Brokers Financial Services, a premium finance company; Allied American Underwriters, the specialty division of USG; and Innovations, a marketing, advertising and technology provider for the industry.

MJ Insurance named Melissa Glissmeyer a risk management consultant in its Phoenix, Ariz., office.

Glissmeyer will be part of the commercial insurance and risk management department and be responsible for driving sales and service.

Glissmeyer previously was a fire protection management trainee at Cintas.

Indianapolis, Ind.-based MJ Insurance is a commercial insurance, risk management and employee benefits consulting agency.

Napa, Calif.-based The Doctors Co. has named Crystal R. Brown senior vice president of underwriting.

Brown leads the company’s underwriting operations nationally, reporting directly to Bill Fleming, chief operating officer.

Brown has more than 25 years of underwriting experience. She held several roles at CNA, including assistant vice president, underwriting director, and senior underwriter. She also previously worked as a healthcare specialist for Continental Insurance Co. in New York prior to the merger with CNA.

The Doctors Co. is a physician-owned medical malpractice insurer with a reported 80,000 members and $4 billion in assets.

USI Insurance Services has named Chris Swensen property/casualty practice leader for its Salt Lake City, Utah, office.

Swensen has 18 years of insurance industry experience, including group captives, professional liability, workers’ compensation and property and casualty.

He was previously vice president of sales and marketing for WCF Insurance.

USI is a insurance brokerage and consulting firm.

RIC Insurance General Agency has named Jason Reese a business development manager.

Reese will work with retail insurance brokers and agents in San Diego and Orange County.

Reese was a business development manager at Method Insurance Services Inc., specializing in workers’ compensation prior to joining RIC. Before that, he built and managed a retail agency in Las Vegas, Nev., handling all lines of business.

RIC is a wholesale insurance brokerage and managing general agency with office locations across the Western U.S.