People & Places
Credit and political risk insurance brokerage specialist BPL Global has appointed Donnie DiCarlo as executive vice president. He will be based in New York and is charged with expanding BPL’s client base in the U.S. and the wider Americas region. DiCarlo joins BPL after 10 years as senior vice president of Marsh’s Credit Specialties Group. He led Marsh’s Political Risk and Structured Credit Team in Latin America before leading the broker’s Lender’s Solutions Group in the Americas. Prior to working at Marsh, DiCarlo was with Willis.
Specialist insurer Beazley has hired Cal Spessard to head the team responsible for handling claims arising from the company’s environmental liability business. Spessard joins Beazley from environmental risk management specialists WCD Group, where he served as director of claims and litigation services. Prior to joining WCD in 2016, he held a series of senior claims roles at AIG for 12 years. At Beazley, he succeeds Larry Griffin, who has been promoted to head the claims team responsible for Beazley’s professions business, which, in addition to environmental liability, includes professional liability for architects and engineers and for lawyers. Spessard will be based in Beazley’s New York office.
Workers’ compensation specialist The MEMIC Group has appointed Ted Lieberman to the role of production underwriter to support continued growth in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey markets. Prior to joining MEMIC, Lieberman worked in underwriting at Zurich North America in Philadelphia and on the agency side at Hugh Wood Inc. and Insurance Office of America.
AXA XL has promoted Marc Bertha as team lead for the U.S. Eastern Region Multinational Casualty group. Based in New York, Bertha will be leading the region’s underwriting team. Bertha joined AXA XL in 2013 as a senior manager of Global Programs and Network Services. He previously worked at Zurich, North America.
Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck LLP (KDV), a national law firm headquartered in Woodbury, N.Y., has hired Peter A. Stroili as an insurance coverage partner in its New York City office. Stroili has 30 years of experience in insurance coverage, professional liability and directors and officers (D&O) insurance matters. Prior to joining KDV, Stroili was a partner at D’Amato & Lynch in New York. Last year, KDV’s New York City office added three D&O partners from D’Amato & Lynch, including Mary Jo Barry, KDV’s co-managing partner of the New York office. Stroili’s practice includes handling complex civil litigation, including arbitrating and litigating insurance coverage matters geared to specific transactions, professional liability defense, reinsurance and securities litigation.
Universal Insurance Holdings Inc.’s Chairman and CEO Sean P. Downes has taken on a new role as executive chairman, beginning July 15. The Universal Insurance Holdings Board has appointed current Chief Operating Officer Stephen J. Donaghy as the new CEO. Downes has been an executive with the company for the last 20 years and served as chairman and CEO for the past six years. Donaghy has been a member of the Universal
management team for the past 13 years. He has been the company’s chief operating officer since March 2016. He served as the chief marketing officer from January 2015 to March 2016, as chief administrative officer from February 2013 to June 2015, as chief information officer from 2009 to February 2015 and as executive vice president since 2006. Before joining Universal, Donaghy held various executive positions at JM Family Enterprises, a privately held company, including vice president of Strategic Initiatives, vice president of Sales and Marketing and senior information officer. Universal Insurance Holdings Inc. is a holding company offering property and casualty insurance and value-added insurance services headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
FCCI Insurance Group has promoted Kimberly Burnside to regional vice president to lead the Southeast region. She will be based out of Atlanta. Burnside has been with FCCI for nearly three years. She began as the managing director of the Southeast region, where she led the regional underwriting team. Prior to that, she was with Liberty Mutual Insurance, where she served as the senior underwriting manager for five years. She has also held two other managerial positions with Harleysville Insurance and AIG. FCCI Insurance Group is a super-regional mutual insurance company providing business insurance coverage, services and surety exclusively through independent agents. The company is headquartered in Sarasota, Fla.
Midlands Management Corp. has appointed Jennie Reed to the expanded role of Brokerage and Binding Unit team leader in Dallas. With more than 20 years in the industry, Reed began her career as a commercial account manager at an independent insurance agency. Reed has played a role in expanding and developing Midlands’ brokerage offerings and market share. She will be tasked with streamlining operations, improving the agent and broker experience and improving business strategies.
Archie Gall has been named CEO of Tricolor Insurance, an affiliate company of Dallas-based Tricolor, a used vehicle retailer focused on the Hispanic consumer market. With 30 years of experience in the insurance industry, Gall has a track record of launching, growing and operating insurance agencies in Texas. Between 2005 and 2014, Gall grew his Austin-based operation to more than 20 locations before it was acquired by Confie Seguros, a national non-standard auto insurance giant serving the Hispanic market. Tricolor Insurance Agency, an affiliate of Tricolor Auto Group, currently serves as an agent for 10 nonstandard carriers and markets its services throughout Tricolor’s 28 dealerships and through its eight Ganas dealerships in southern California. Currently available only to Tricolor auto purchase customers, the company plans to extend its insurance offering to all vehicle owners later next year.
Managing general agency and surplus lines broker J.M. Wilson has promoted Dawn Van Niman to accounting and finance specialist in the company’s Portage, Michigan, office. She is responsible for processing accounts payable and receivable, performing audits and managing agent accounts. Van Niman has been with J.M. Wilson for 12 years, previously holding positions including accounting and finance associate, agency coordinator assistant and human resources assistant. J.M. Wilson also promoted Alex Mikos to transportation underwriter in its Arlington Heights, Illinois, office. Mikos is responsible for underwriting new and renewal transportation risks and serving independent insurance agents in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. He has been with J.M. Wilson for a year and has seven prior years of experience in the mortgage industry. Before his promotion, Mikos was an assistant transportation underwriter.
St. Louis-based POWERS Insurance & Risk Management has hired Rachel Winkelmann as its newest commercial lines account manager. In this position, Winkelmann will be responsible for the ongoing management of commercial clients, retaining new and renewal clients, and assisting the company’s producers in order to enhance business development. Prior to joining POWERS, she utilized her investigation and management skills as a claims professional at a local insurance company.
Carmel, Indiana-based Protective Insurance Corp., a specialty property and casualty holding company in the transportation and workers’ compensation insurance industries, has appointed John Barnett as its chief financial officer, effective Sept. 30, 2019, and Bahr Omidfar as chief information officer, effective Sept. 16, 2019. Barnett most recently served as chief financial officer and executive vice president of First Acceptance Corp., a non-standard auto insurance underwriter, having previously served as senior vice president in its Finance division. Barnett also has served as vice president of Finance at Broadcast Music Inc., as well as in various other management and manufacturing roles during his career, including as senior manager of planning and analysis at Anheuser-Busch Cos. Omidfar most recently served as chief technology officer at CNA Insurance. Bahr also served in various senior vice president roles with Fidelity Investments, focusing on technology and security. Previously, he held roles at Rockwell Automation, Raytheon, Motorola, Deloitte and Northrup Grumman Corp.
Irvine Calif.-based Western Growers Insurance Services Inc. has named Jodi Martin director of employee benefits account management. Martin will lead account management activities while also supporting the growth and retention of WGIS’ customer base. Martin has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry specializing in agriculture. She was previously senior vice president at United Agricultural Benefit Trust. Martin also served as director of benefits services for a regional brokerage. Western Growers Insurance Services is the wholly-owned insurance brokerage of Western Growers and offers risk mitigation and management solutions to agricultural and related industry members in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
Renton, Wash.-based Bell-Anderson Agency Inc. has named Kathie Watson as chief operating officer. Watson has been the firm’s commercial lines manager since 2014. Her duties have included oversight of the agency’s administrative functions including claims, information technology and compliance. She was previously a customer service manager with Cochrane & Co. Bell-Anderson has six offices across Washington.
Phoenix, Ariz.-based CopperPoint Insurance Cos. has named Barb Fuchs senior vice president of data management. Fuchs will serve as the business lead for CopperPoint’s enterprise data warehouse program. She was most recently vice president of information management and analytics at Travelers. Fuchs was chief information officer in the international division of Travelers before that. CopperPoint is a provider of workers’ comp and commercial insurance with a footprint in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah.