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Smart Choice has named Chris Reisdorf, formerly of All Risks, to lead the company’s efforts in North Carolina as state director.
A 25-year veteran of the insurance industry, Reisdorf has worked in a number of areas including marketing, sales, underwriting, and wholesale and commercial markets.
Most recently, he was the vice president of Agency Relations in charge of National Strategic Partnerships for All Risks Ltd., an independent wholesale insurance broker.
Prior to his time at All Risks, he served as vice president of Marketing at Tapco Underwriters Inc.
Smart Choice President Andrew Caldwell said Reisdorf will help further Smart Choice’s new initiatives programs coming for agents in 2018.
Reisdorf will join the Smart Choice leadership team as they continue to expand their agency base. The company is currently partnered with 6,300 agencies across the nation and experienced 25 percent growth in January.
The Smart Choice Agents Program is a wholly-owned program of Worldwide Insurance Network Inc. (WIN), headquartered in High Point, N.C.
Appalachian Underwriters Inc. has added Siran Wixom as a Commercial Specialty underwriter in its office in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Wixom will handle small- to medium-sized Commercial Specialty accounts.
Wixom brings close to 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry to her new role, including more than 15 years on the agent side in servicing all lines and a few years of underwriting.
Appalachian Underwriters Inc. is a full-service MGA and wholesale insurance brokerage, providing independent agents a national outlet to multiple specialized markets for workers’ compensation, commercial specialty and personal lines of insurance.
Keystone Insurers Group has named Sheldon Palefsky as Georgia state vice president.
Mike Reddy, Keystone’s employee benefits division president and leader of field operations, said Palefsky joins Keystone’s southern region team and will play a key role in helping its agents plan, execute and expand their sales goals.
Palefsky has served multiple roles within the industry, including sales producer and production underwriter.
Most recently, he served as a branch marketing manager for Columbia Insurance Group, where he managed the regional marketing efforts for five states.
Keystone was formed in 1983 when four independent insurance agencies teamed up to pool their experience and expertise. The group now has almost 300 independent agency partners in 11 states.
Keystone is ranked number three on Insurance Journal’s 2017 list of Top 20 Privately-Held Property/Casualty Agency Partnerships.
Aon has promoted Lurline Craig-Burke to managing director in its Atlanta office.
Craig-Burke previously served as a member of the firm’s leadership team responsible for engaging clients’ executive leadership and Boards of Directors in delivering risk, retirement and health products.
She previously worked as president of Jackson Executives, an executive staffing firm for the hospital and healthcare industry for four years.
She also previously worked with Marsh from 2011 to 2013, and was with Aon Hewitt from 2003 to 2007 as a National Practice leader.
Boston Insurance Brokerage LLC (BIB), a national wholesale specialty insurance agency headquartered in Boston, has added Jennifer Szalkay as vice president of its Property & Casualty Division. In this role, Szalkay assumes responsibility for developing BIB’s growing business in Florida and surrounding states.
Gordon Bewick, CEO of BIB, said Szalkay will head up the company’s continued expansion into the southern region.
Szalkay joins BIB with more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry as a writer, agent and broker, in both retail agency and brokerage/MGA sales and service.
She started her insurance career in 1992 at State Farm Insurance Co. In 1997, she joined Proudfit Insurance Agency, where she was an independent agent. In 2001, she joined MGA brokerage firm USG Insurance Services Inc. as an underwriter and eventually rose to senior vice president.
In 2014, Szalkay relocated to Florida to join Appalachian Underwriters Inc. as a property & casualty broker.
Established in 2001, BIB is a wholesale commercial broker with offices in Boston, Cincinnati, Denver, New York, Richmond, and now Sarasota, Fla.
BIB offers specialized insurance products for insurance agents nationwide.