People & Places

Hiscox, the Bermuda-headquartered specialist insurer, has appointed Melissa Hill as head of claims in the U.S. Hill, who has more than a decade of experience in claims operations, will oversee the strategic direction and performance of the company’s U.S. claims service. She will be based in Atlanta and will report to Steve Langan, CEO for Hiscox USA. Prior to joining Hiscox, Hill was the chief claims officer at Blackboard Insurance Co. Previously, she served as a senior vice president at AIG, where she oversaw three major claims operations: Defense Base Act Federal Workers Compensation, Foreign Voluntary Workers Compensation and Vendor Services Workers Compensation.

East Providence, R.I.-headquartered Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc. (S&S) has elected Elizabeth Lowe to the board of directors. Lowe, president of Custom House Risk Advisors (CHRA), is the first female on the board in the company’s history. As President of CHRA, Lowe leads Starkweather’s Real Estate Risk Solutions, an industry-specific practice group focused solely on assisting real estate investment trusts (REITs), private equity investment firms and other large real estate owners, managers and developers. Prior to joining S&S, Lowe was a senior risk management consultant at Robert M. Currey & Associates of Boston, where she worked for more than seven years.

Liberty Mutual has appointed Janelle Edem to be chief of staff for its Global Risk Solutions (GRS) commercial and specialty lines (re)insurer, which provides traditional insurance, specialty and reinsurance to businesses globally. Most recently, Edem served as general manager, UPS Distribution and Service, for GRS’ National Insurance operation. Edem will report to Dennis Langwell, president of GRS, and will organize and advance strategic issues to facilitate decision-making for GRS’ executive office.

Cook Maran, a Prime Risk Partner, has hired Brian Erickson as a client advisor for commercial property and casualty risks, specializing in energy, auto dealer and other large complex accounts. Erickson will be based out of Cook Maran’s Mt. Laurel, N.J., office. Erickson was previously regional manager for Energi Insurance in Peabody, Mass. Cook Maran, which traces its roots to 1946, has almost 250 employees in eight offices in New York and New Jersey.

Former Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak, who stepped down as the head of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Commissioner in May, has joined the global law firm Greenberg Traurig, P.A., in the firm’s Insurance Regulatory and Transactions Practice. McPeak will serve as one of the founders of the firm’s new location in Nashville, Tenn. — its 31st U.S. location and 41st worldwide.

McPeak was reappointed as commissioner by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee in January 2019, following her original appointment as commissioner by Governor Bill Haslam in January 2011.

McPeak is the first woman to serve as chief insurance regulator in more than one state. In 2018, McPeak served as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Before leading the Tennessee Department of Commerce, McPeak worked in private practice as counsel to the insurance practice group of law firm Burr & Forman LLP. She also served as the executive director of the Kentucky Office of Insurance (KOI) and spent nine years as an attorney for KOI prior to that. She also served as general counsel to the Kentucky Personnel Cabinet.

XS Brokers (XSB), an independent insurance underwriting and wholesale brokerage group, has hired Michelle Delmonico-Longo as Business Development manager, and David Hall as senior vice president of Business Development for the Florida and Southeast region. According to Lori Ault, executive vice president and Southeast territorial manager, the two will play a role in expanding XS Brokers’ geographic reach among insurance agents and brokers seeking small- and mid-market commercial lines products. Delmonico-Longo has more than 12 years of sales and marketing experience in the commercial insurance field. Her territory will include Central and Northern Florida.

Hall, who will be responsible for the Southwest, Southeast and South Florida territories, has more than 18 years of sales and marketing experience.

The Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) has appointed Mark Friedlander as its new Florida-based communications consultant. Friedlander was most recently a communications consultant at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), where he focused on media relations. He is the former head of corporate communications and assistant secretary at The Main Street America Group, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based super-regional property and casualty insurance carrier. He has also held senior communications and marketing roles at Prudential Financial and HSBC Holdings PLC. Friedlander succeeds Lynne McChristian, who had been the I.I.I.’s Florida-based communications consultant since 2008. McChristian was earlier this year named the director of the Office of Risk Management and Insurance Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she is also a senior instructor teaching insurance and enterprise risk management classes. She continues to serve as an I.I.I. spokesperson and a non-resident scholar.

Mike Jacoby has joined the Dallas-based team of Risk Consulting Partners (RCP) and will lead the firm’s healthcare practice. Jacoby brings to RCP more than 35 years of experience, having worked for insurance intermediaries such as Marsh & McLennan, Lockton and IMA. The RCP healthcare practice includes cyber and management liability perils for hospitals, physician groups, managed care organizations and others.

EC3 Brokers US has appointed James Norris as chief actuary and Terry Holley as senior vice president in Dallas. Norris joined C3 from Lapis Resources where he was president. Norris has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry. Holley spent the past year working as a consultant to develop a new start-up managing general agency (MGA). Throughout his career, Holley has worked closely with MGAs and captives to develop reinsured programs in several lines of business. He was previously a director at Wellington Insurance Group.

Cannasure Insurance Services, a Cleveland, Ohio-based managing general agent and wholesale insurance broker for the cannabis and hemp industries, has hired Joe Foley as chief financial officer. Foley has more than 20 years of experience as an advisor and principal in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, strategy and operations. Prior to joining Cannasure, Foley was a partner at Falcon, a private equity talent platform, and he was a co-founder of Greencastle, a mission-critical infrastructure developer.

Managing general agency and surplus lines broker, J.M. Wilson, has added Matt Lewton as transportation underwriter and Tyler Arens as assistant transportation underwriter in its Carmel, Ind., office. Lewton is responsible for underwriting new and renewal transportation risks and serving independent insurance agents in Indiana.

Arens is responsible for assisting underwriters on a wide variety of transportation risks, as well as quoting new and renewal business, corresponding with carrier underwriters and assisting independent agents in Indiana.

Michael Blackshear has joined Ryan Specialty Group (RSG) as a senior vice president and global chief compliance officer. He is based in the company’s Chicago headquarters.

Blackshear joins RSG with more than 27 years of financial service and executive experience in compliance and risk management. His previous position was with Chubb Insurance Group. Prior to Chubb, Blackshear held various leadership roles with Marsh & McLennan Cos. He began his insurance career as an underwriter for Continental Insurance Co. and then as a casualty broker with Alexander & Alexander.

Transatlantic Underwriters has named Colby Waltenburg vice president. Waltenburg will be coordinating the opening of a new office for TAU on the West Coast. Waltenburg has worked in most aspects of wholesale property and casualty insurance operations since 1997. He was previously senior vice president of transportation for Coastal Brokers Insurance Services Inc. Transatlantic Underwriters is a wholesale insurance brokerage specializing in the automotive and trucking industry.

San Diego-based Cavignac & Associates has added Denise French to its employee benefits team as an account administrator for special projects. French serves as the primary customer service person for enrolled members. She has five years of experience in the employee benefits arena of the insurance industry. French was most recently a human resources generalist for ACI Specialty Benefits. She was an administrative assistant in the contracts and provider relations department at Molina Healthcare before that. She also previously worked for Covered California for Kaiser.

RT Specialty has added Matt Bernal to its property practice group as a vice president. Bernal is based out of the San Francisco office. He has 15 years of property insurance experience. Bernal previously was with Hiscox, where he managed property for territories outside of the Southeast. He was a property/construction wholesale broker before that.

R-T Specialty LLC, a subsidiary of Ryan Specialty Group LLC, provides wholesale brokerage and other services to agents and brokers.

Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has named Jonathan Lee vice president of catastrophe modeling and business analytics. Lee will be based in the San Diego office and will oversee the catastrophe management function for Alliant Underwriting Solutions, including portfolio management, modeling and business data analysis, process improvement and reporting.

Topa Insurance Co. has named Kelly Yates assistant vice president of claims. Yates will be located in Topa’s Calabasas, Calif., office. Yates has oversight of Topa’s property and commercial auto business and its special investigations unit.

Yates joined Topa five years ago as a claims examiner, and was later promoted to claims manager. Yates was previously with State Farm and State Auto Insurance before that.