People

January 8, 2018

S.S. Nesbitt & Co. Inc. (SSN), a Southeastern insurance agency and division of EBSCO Industries, Inc. (EBSCO), has appointed Mike Roman as vice president of its property and casualty sales. Roman is joining senior vice president of property and casualty (P&C) Allen Baker in supporting the P&C sales team and group practice.

Roman’s primary focus will include the recruitment, onboarding and training, mentoring and management of producers across all agency branches. He will also serve as an independent insurance consultant for regional businesses while providing all the agency’s clients with expertise on management liability, with a particular focus on cyber liability.

Before joining SSN, Roman worked as senior vice president and client advocate at Willis Towers Watson, where he spent nearly 14 years. Prior to his work in insurance, Roman was a pilot with American Airlines after a career as an aviator and electronic warfare mission commander with the U.S. Navy.

SSN also announced that Matt Monroe has been named vice president of business development. Monroe will operate in an internal sales role, cultivating business relationships among EBSCO’s various business units to develop new insurance customers. Monroe, who was formerly vice president of sales management for SSN, will continue to support the agency’s management team through operational and sales planning and strategy.

Monroe has been with SSN for over a year in the sales management role. He came to SSN from Royal Cup Coffee, where he served as director for sales operations, OCS Division, and a regional manager for their central region. He also worked as a Miller Heiman consultant and practice manager.

S.S. Nesbitt is a privately held independent insurance agency based in Birmingham, Ala., with multiple locations in the Southeastern United States. These offices provide all lines of insurance in partnership with specialized carriers.

Larry Pratt has joined SUNUP Insurance Services, headquartered in North Carolina, as the chief agency officer.

Pratt will be responsible for leading agency operations for the company. He comes to SUNUP with experience in agency distribution, including extensive experience in agency management and national sales.

In his career, Pratt was the VP of Sales Home Office for Farmers Insurance, as well as the VP of Territory for the Northwest (Idaho, Oregon and Washington), California, Texas and Alabama.

In his role at SUNUP, Pratt will focus on attracting new talent to join the organization. He will also be focused on looking for and developing new processes and programs to help agents.

SUNUP Insurance Services operates with an agency developer and master franchise model, where the focus is on recruiting and training, as well as a Unit Holder franchise of storefront operations. SUNUP Insurance Services is in its second year of operations and is approved in 37 states. SUNUP is headquartered near Winston Salem, N.C., in Bermuda Run, N.C., and operates a training center at SUNUP University in Liberty Hill, Texas, near Austin.

DUAL North America, a member of the DUAL Group and Hyperion Insurance Group and headquartered in Naples, Fla., has announced Justin Tweedie will be succeeded as CEO by Jon Beckham effective Jan. 1, 2018, at which time Tweedie will assume the role of chairman of the Board of Directors. Beckham will also join DUAL Group’s regional management board. Tracy Keill will remain as CFO.

Beckham joined the company in 2013 and has taken on increasingly senior roles including responsibility for marketing and new business development and, in more recent months, has been responsible to the DUAL North America Board for oversight of operational support teams.

Beckham joined the company with over 20 years of insurance industry experience across both MGAs and insurance carriers.

Tweedie has been with the company since its inception in 2004 and has held the title of president and CEO for over ten years. He has led the company’s growth through several acquisitions as well overseeing the transition of the U.S. group following its purchase by Hyperion in 2013.

DUAL North America is a specialty program administrator offering property & casualty products through several specialized companies and divisions. DUAL has 12 underwriting offices throughout North America that underwrite and manage insurance programs. The North America operation is a part of the DUAL Group, an international underwriting agency and Lloyd’s largest international coverholder with offices in 17 countries. DUAL is the underwriting division of Hyperion Insurance Group.