People & Places
California-based CLARA Analytics, a provider of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the commercial insurance industry, announced that Heather H. Wilson has been named as CEO.
Previously, Wilson was the chief data officer of AIG, responsible for the firm’s enterprise data program and next-generation data infrastructure. In addition, Wilson was global head of innovation and advanced technology at Kaiser Permanente, responsible for data-driven analytical programs. Outside of the insurance space, Wilson served as chief data officer of Citigroup and global head of decision management.
As executive vice president and chief data scientist of L Brands, an American fashion retailer, Wilson led several data-oriented initiatives.
XS Brokers (XSB), an independent insurance underwriting and wholesale brokerage group, has appointed industry veteran Kevin Mordarski to lead its newly formed healthcare practice, designed to advise retail agents and brokers on coverage placement strategies and requirements for hospitals and healthcare facilities countrywide.
Mordarski has experience serving in the healthcare professional liability market for more than 20 years.
Millers Mutual Insurance, a regional property/casualty insurance carrier, promoted Samuel Hess to vice president and chief information officer, effective immediately.
As CIO, Hess will partner with Millers’ business units to identify, develop and implement information technology capabilities that enable the company’s strategic direction, support day-to-day business operations, position Millers favorably with all organizational stakeholders and agencies and function in accordance with applicable regulations. He will be responsible for leading all functional and staff-related activities as well as maintaining knowledge of current and emerging trends in the IT insurance industry.
Hess has been a part of the Millers Mutual IT team for more than five years, with increasing amounts of responsibility and expertise, including becoming certified and serving as the chief information security officer in 2020.
Prior to Millers Mutual, Hess worked for Millville Mutual as an IT support and technology developer for five years. Before that, he was an IT consultant for three years.
Millers Mutual Insurance, based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is a regional property/casualty insurer serving commercial policyholders in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Washington, D.C., through a network of independent agents.
Marsh has added Kevin Bryant to lead its national public entity industry practice.
In this role, Bryant will work with state and local government and not-for-profit clients across the U.S., offering public sector expertise, insights and transactional services.
Bryant joins Marsh from Aon, where he spent the last 14 years as executive vice president and resident managing director for Aon’s Greenville, South Carolina, office. He has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance brokerage industry focusing on clients including nonprofits and public entities, with property/casualty and employee benefit strategies.
Bryant will remain in Greenville and report to Jeffrey Alpaugh, Marsh’s US and Canada growth and industry leader.
Zurich has promoted Kim Jordan to regional vice president for the south region.
As the regional vice president for the south region, Jordan will be responsible for driving Zurich’s middle market book of business in the region, including cultivating distributor and customer relationships and developing underwriting talent. She will report to John Diaz, chief operating officer of the U.S. middle market for Zurich North America.
Jordan joined Zurich in 2017 as a middle market underwriting manager in the south region and has 30 years of experience in the industry, including underwriting leadership roles at Travelers in middle market, national accounts and construction.
Builders Insurance Group has appointed Todd M. Campbell as president and CEO. He will join the company effective April 5, 2021.
In this position, Campbell will lead the company and will provide strategic direction to its operations. According to Allen Richardson, chairman of the board of directors of Builders Insurance Group, Campbell has 30 years of leadership and business expertise.
Prior to joining Builders Insurance Group, Campbell was president and CEO of Accredited Surety and Casualty Company Inc. His experience also includes four years as CEO of a London-based Lloyd’s coverholder, distributing and underwriting products throughout Europe, a decade as a corporate mergers and acquisitions and insurance attorney in Atlanta and prior CEO roles leading a U.S. life insurer and a U.S. property/casualty insurer.
Builders Insurance Group covers more than 17,500 policyholders in residential and light commercial construction as well as a variety of non-construction fields. It is headquartered in Atlanta.
The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) appointed Joe Connelly, president of the South Central zone and North America general insurance at AIG, as chair of the Southeast division board of directors.
The division is based in Dallas and serves 13 states, with IICF chapters in Atlanta and Houston, along with plans to expand across several states. Connelly has served as a board member of the IICF’s Southeast division for two years.
At AIG, Connelly leads the strategy, execution and delivery of its commercial insurance business and service capabilities in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi.
Prior to joining AIG, he worked at Chubb as executive vice president in the North America major accounts division and at ACE USA as the regional executive officer of the Houston region.
Connelly succeeds Richard Gergasko of Texas Mutual Insurance Company and Mark Shults of The Hartford, who served as co-chairs of the Southeast division board of directors for two years.
Jay Rose joined Alliant Insurance Services as senior vice president in the company’s Alliant Underwriting Solutions (AUS) division. He is based in Dallas.
Rose will build a team with targeted industry expertise and underwriting capabilities to expand the division’s MGA capabilities within the power and energy sector.
Prior to joining Alliant, Rose was managing director within the energy practice at a global provider of trade credit insurance.
Alliant also named Tim McGinnis as senior vice president in its construction services group in Dallas.
McGinnis will focus on providing risk management solutions for construction clients across all lines of business.
With more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry, McGinnis has held various specialized positions as a carrier, broker and risk manager for a large general contractor.
McGinnis joins Alliant from a global insurance broker where he held several roles, including West region construction leader, North American builders risk practice leader, wrap-up broker and client advocate for several construction clients.
Chicago-based Agman, an entrepreneurial investment firm, added Nick Davies as an operating partner.
Davies will support the firm’s expanding insurance platform, which includes Virtus, an insurance brokerage and consulting firm, and Omaha National, a technology-enabled provider of workers’ compensation insurance to small and medium-sized businesses.
Davies has 25 years of experience in the international insurance and reinsurance markets, most recently as a group executive for Brit Insurance, where he served as president of its US and Bermuda business. Brit Global Specialty Americas spanned property/casualty, professional and reinsurance and wrote approximately $1.5 billion in premium during Davies’ tenure. He served as chairman of Brit USA, Brit Bermuda and Commonwealth Insurance and helped establish Brit as a market leader for a range of U.S. products.
Davies subsequently joined Western Re Managers, a Lloyd’s MGA specializing in catastrophe risk, where he helped expand its earthquake and terrorism products before re-joining Brit in 2009 as its first U.S. employee.
Homeowners of America Insurance Co. (HOAIC), an Irving, Texas-based property/casualty insurance provider, added Paul Domek as a territory sales manager in Illinois.
Domek brings more than 20 years of insurance industry experience to HOAIC and has spent his most recent time with Founders Insurance. In addition to his insurance background, Domek has a solid working knowledge of Illinois and the Midwest and is charged with helping to expand HOAIC’s strategic growth in the region.
Illinois was the seventh state where the Texas-based company began actively writing policies in September 2020. Domek will be based in the Chicagoland area, managing the development of new independent agency relationships throughout the state.
Hanleigh has named Bill Haley sales director in Dana Point, California. Hanleigh is a managing general underwriter offering high-limit disability, personal life and accident and special risk contingency coverages to high net worth professionals, athletes, entertainers and organizations.
Haley has more than 35 years of experience in income protection solutions for professionals and executives, with a focus on guarantee standard issue, integrated plan designs, risk transfer and other disability income risk management strategies. He started his sales career with Unum in Washington D.C. for 14 years and then helped open Mass Mutual’s DISO office in Atlanta, Georgia, where he worked for 15 years.
His most recent position was regional director for the West and PNW Regions at Guardian Life Insurance.
Hanleigh is a subsidiary of CRC Group, a national wholesale distributor of specialty insurance products.
Woodruff Sawyer has added John Fuhrman as a Southern California practice leader. He will lead the region’s operations including aligning the interests of the organization with client services, recruiting new talent and identifying opportunities for growth.
Fuhrman was previously a managing director at Marsh, where he led the company’s Pacific South partnership. He spent 10 years as a managing partner with Willis Towers Watson.
United Valley Insurance Services Inc. has named Paul Cyr Southwest region director.
Cyr, formerly United Valley’s Member Advisory Council chair, joins United Valley as the lead in Arizona and surrounding states.
His primary role is to liaison with members and carriers in the region.
United Valley is a membership network of more than 85 independently owned and operated insurance agencies with more than 100 locations in the Western U.S.