People & Places
Further strengthening its captive solutions and sharing (gig) economy practices, Crum & Forster’s (C&F) accident and health (A&H) Division has appointed C&F veteran Mark Srygley to help drive its efforts in those disciplines.
A&H Vice President David Kaplan will lead the initiative along with Srygley.
Throughout his 30-plus-year C&F career, Srygley has helped create custom insurance solutions for large and complex clients in non-traditional industries.
Cybersecurity specialist Daisy Lopez has joined Mosaic, as the new insurer expands its U.S. team of underwriters in the product line.
At Mosaic, she will specialize in assessing and underwriting complex cyber risks across North American markets. Previously, she worked at Crum & Forster as product manager for large lawyers and accountants professional liability portfolios. She was involved in the underwriting of miscellaneous E&O, cyber liability, and technology E&O, and managed a team of underwriters in Chicago and the New York metropolitan area. Before that, she worked for Lockton, where she assisted professional services firms with the placement of property/casualty, professional and management liability coverage needs.
Mosaic launched in February of this year and began underwriting cyber insurance globally on April 1 through teams based in Chicago and London. The product line is one of six offered by the specialty insurer, with underwriting already underway in political violence and political risk lines.
Based in New York, Lopez will be vice president and production specialist for cyber, reporting to Mosaic’s head of Americas for cyber, Brian Dusek.
Jencap Group LLC, a New York-headquartered national wholesale intermediary, has promoted Mark Maher to president.
In his new role, Maher will work with the Jencap management team to develop strategic plans, drive overall growth initiatives, manage carrier and broker relationships and work with affiliate company leaders to achieve an effective cross-selling practice.
Most recently, Maher was chief operating officer of Jencap and president of its NIF Group division, a managing general agency, program manager and wholesale insurance brokerage where he served for more than 30 years.
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has appointed two hires in its New York office, adding Robert Green as North American regional head of professional indemnity (PI) and Rick Hornby as regional product lead for financial institutions (FI).
Joining from AGCS London, Green will manage the underwriting, distribution and profit/loss for a variety of accounts, including lawyers professional liability (LPL), accountants professional liability (APL), miscellaneous professional liability (MPL), architects and engineers (A&E) and agents business. He will report to Joe Caruso, regional head of financial lines for North America. Prior to AGCS, Green was with Allianz Insurance Plc, first as part of the U.K. property/casualty team before becoming an account underwriter for specialty lines.
Hornby will oversee the distribution, management and marketing of AGCS FI products and services in the West, South and Midwest Regions in the U.S. and effectuate portfolio growth activities in these zones. He will report to Anton Lavrenko, regional head of FI. Hornby began his insurance career with Willis Group in 2004, followed by increasingly senior roles with AmWINS Brokerage and NFP Property & Casualty Services Inc.
Palomar Insurance has added Reese Smith III to its expanding sales team as an account executive specializing in the transportation industry.
Smith has experience with trucking insurance and personalized service and will work to assist clients in understanding their company’s risks and acquiring the right coverage. Smith joins the team in its Kennesaw, Georgia, office working in the transportation insurance group.
Palomar Insurance delivers insurance programs to U.S. and international companies. It is headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, with offices in Georgia and Tennessee.
Southern Insurance Underwriters Inc. (SIU) has added John Kiernan to its marine brokerage team. He will be based in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Kiernan comes to SIU with experience in underwriting all classes of hull, marine liability and recreational marine business. Kiernan worked for the last 10 years handling the national hull and marine liabilities product lines for a marine insurance carrier. As a new underwriter for Southern Insurance Underwriters, Kiernan will work with current agency partners and develop new opportunities.
SIU is a managing general agency located in the Atlanta area.
Associated Insurance Administrators (AIA), based in Montgomery, Alabama, has appointed Patrick Albrecht as president.
Prior to becoming president, Albrecht was the senior vice president for AIA. He is a 20-year veteran of the insurance industry. AIA previously filled the position of president externally by a member of the AIA board of directors. The appointment of Albrecht is part of the company’s reorganization to bring the authorities and responsibilities into the day-to-day operations. In this new cross-functional structure, marketing, underwriting and claims, will work together, led by Alisha Seal in a newly created position of chief insurance officer.
Associated Insurance Administrators (AIA) is a program administrator and wholesale supplier of workers’ comp insurance products to independent insurance agents and brokers. It primarily serves agencies in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Boyd, Shackelford, Barnett and Dixon (BSBD) based in Plano, Texas, hired Matt Brost as executive vice president and benefits practice leader.
Brost brings experience in the employee benefits space to BSBD. Most recently, he served as the national head of sales for a health innovation company. At BSBD, he is tasked with growing the agency’s employee benefits practice.
Boyd, Shackelford, Barnett and Dixon, an independent retail brokerage firm with offices in Plano and Dallas, serves clients across the United States.
Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission (WCC) Commissioner Jordan Russell has been named chairman, effective June 1.
Russell succeeds Commissioner Mark Liotta as chairman of the WCC.
Liotta will serve out the remainder of his term as commissioner, which expires August 25. He was appointed to the WCC effective May 27, 2015.
Appointed to the commission by Governor Mary Fallin effective Oct. 4, 2016, Russel has been reappointed by Governor Kevin Stitt to a term expiring Aug. 25, 2025. Russell is an attorney who joined the commission after serving three legislative sessions as policy director and counsel to Oklahoma Speaker of the House Jeffrey W. Hickman.
The WCC operates with three commissioners on staggered, six-year terms.
Platinum Specialty Underwriters, an XPT company, added transportation expert Malcolm Gilreath as vice president of underwriting. He is based in Platinum’s Plano, Texas, office.
Gilreath will lead the underwriting team, as well as underwrite for Platinum Truck Program, an admitted nationwide long haul truck program distributed exclusively through XPT Transportation. He will also lead the firm’s trucking training resources and support the development of additional trucking products.
Gilreath has more than 25 years of transportation and insurance experience, including positions with trucking companies, transportation insurance and as a transportation safety consultant. Most recently, Gilreath was president and owner of Proactive Transportation Safety Services Inc., providing risk management and safety consulting services to trucking companies.
He has also held positions including senior underwriter and regional trainer positions for Great West Casualty Co.
St. Louis, Mo.-based POWERS Insurance & Risk Management hired Scott Weiler as a commercial lines account executive.
Weiler has more than 20 years of experience in commercial property/casualty insurance, as well as risk management programs. Prior to joining POWERS, Weiler worked as a senior vice president at a local insurance business.
At POWERS, he will be responsible for serving commercial clients, retaining new and renewal clients and assisting the company’s producers in managing customer relationships.
O’Dell comes to MJ from global multinational risk management, insurance brokerage and advisory company, Willis Towers Watson. Previously as director of client relationship management, she served as a senior client adviser in corporate risk and broking. Her experience includes working with large complex organizations including hospitality/real estate-focused public, REIT and private equity firms, hotel and hospitality ownership and management firms and real estate development firms. O’Dell will oversee the lifecycle of MJ client’s multi-year risk treatment strategy, including the creation, ongoing evaluation and periodic revision. She will also oversee activity of the respective analytics, risk services, risk transfer, claims consulting and client advocacy team members to ensure execution of MJ’s consulting process.
Becker has experience in relationship cultivation, client relations and sales. In his most recent role, Becker instituted an advanced data and statistical analytics model to improve team outcomes. He also has previous expertise creating mutually beneficial relationships with bankers and accountants.
Island Insurance Co. promoted Toby Tonaki to vice president of claims. Tonaki will continue to oversee the claims division’s casualty unit.
Tonaki joined Island in 2013 and has more than 25 years of litigation experience. His previous positions include serving as a law clerk at the intermediate court of appeals, a deputy attorney general and a deputy public defender for Hawaii. He was also a partner at Watanabe, Ing, Kawashima & Komeiji LLP before establishing a solo practice.
Island Insurance Co. is a locally-owned property/casualty insurer offering solutions in personal auto, homeowners, condo, renters and umbrella insurance and commercial insurance.