People & Places
American International Group Inc. announced that Sabra Purtill has been named executive vice president and chief risk officer.
Based in New York, Purtill will report to President and CEO Peter Zaffino and will join the AIG executive leadership team. Purtill has been serving as interim chief risk officer for AIG since February 2021. As CRO, Purtill will oversee AIG’s corporate risk management strategy on an enterprise-wide basis as AIG continues to strengthen its culture of underwriting with an appropriate risk appetite while adjusting to a dynamically changing environment, including emerging climate, cyber and other fast-evolving risks.
Prior to accepting this role, Purtill served as AIG’s deputy chief financial officer overseeing treasury, rating agency relations, investor relations and corporate development. Over Purtill’s 30-year career, principally focused on the insurance industry, she has held a range of executive roles at several companies.
Prior to joining AIG in 2019, she was with The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., where she served as senior vice president of investor relations and treasurer. She was also managing director of investor relations and communications at Assured Guaranty Ltd. Prior to that, she was a corporate finance officer at ACE Ltd., now known as Chubb Ltd.
Buckle, a tech-enabled financial services company, appointed Cheryl Sinclair to the company’s newly created position of chief people officer. She is responsible for developing Buckle’s human resources strategy, including talent and performance management as Buckle’s team continues to support the new emerging middle class and providers to the gig economy.
Sinclair spent nearly 20 years in various human resources roles at Farmers Insurance, most recently as assistant vice president of human resources. She also previously served as head of talent management for Holland America Group, serving Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn and P & O Australia.
Plymouth Rock Assurance named Brad Schoenbach as chief of agency marketing in New York, responsible for leading all agency marketing in the state.
Schoenbach brings a combination of industry knowledge and a regional understanding of the New York market, where he has spent the majority of his career. He joins Plymouth Rock from Foremost Insurance, where he held multiple senior level positions over more than 10 years, most recently as the Northeast regional sales director. Prior to that, he managed personal and commercial lines agency business for Central and Eastern New York as senior territory manager.
Before joining Foremost, Schoenbach spent four years at Gainsco Auto Insurance as a territory marketing manager supporting independent agents in the company’s largest territory in Florida. He began his career at Progressive Insurance, working in the claims group.
Southern Insurance Underwriters Inc. (SIU) added Haley Hayes Everett to its commercial property/casualty team. She is based at the company’s offices in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Hayes Everett comes to SIU with experience on the retail side and has spent the last 19 years in the excess and surplus sector underwriting new business property/casualty and professional lines for retail agents.
SIU offers a range of products and markets to more than 3,000 independent insurance agents including personal property, workers’ compensation, inland marine, professional lines, forest products, commercial transportation and commercial property/casualty.
National insurance wholesaler INSUREtrust added several new recent college graduates to its team Georgia.
Bayley Holbrook joined the team as an account manager. He will work to help clients assess their cyber vulnerabilities and identify relevant cyber coverage.
Brandon Clary also joined the team as account manager. Before joining INSUREtrust, he was an intern with the Appalachian State Sports Strategic Communications Department.
Katrina Long will join the company as an account manager in Norcross, Georgia. She has past experience in insurance sales as a limited sub agent.
The company also hired Beverly Le as an account manager. She will be responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with clients.
Additionally, the company named Kyle Yarbrough as an operations specialist. Before joining INSUREtrust, Yarbrough worked for Expedia as an associate market manager where he primarily acquired hotel partnerships and familiarized them with the platform and its offerings. Prior to that, he was the revenue manager for The Hotel at Auburn University and has experience with account management software.
INSUREtrust, located in the Atlanta metro area, is a national insurance wholesaler focused on insurance for emerging risks generated with using the Internet, such as privacy and security breaches. The company was recently acquired by Constellation Affiliated Partners.
Stephens Insurance LLC, an affiliate of independent financial services firm Stephens Inc., has hired Emris Graham as senior vice president of its property/casualty division. He will be based in the Birmingham, Alabama, office.
Miles Stephens, president and CEO of Stephens Insurance, said Graham’s risk management and advisor experience will help strengthen its property and casualty advisory services. Graham will work in conjunction with fellow Birmingham office team lead Tice Young to continue providing service to existing and new clients.
A 16-year veteran, Graham most recently served as a senior vice president at McGriff, Seibels & Williams in the Energy & Construction Practice group with an emphasis on upstream, midstream, and downstream related risks.
Stephens Insurance is headquartered in Little Rock, Ark., and is a privately-owned insurance brokerage in the Mid-South.
Alliant Insurance Services hired Ivan Soto as assistant vice president, based in Houston. Soto will serve a diverse client base and create tailored insurance solutions that address a breadth of industry risks and exposures.
The company also added Taylor Hargrave as vice president in Dallas. Hargrave will design and implement property/casualty insurance programs for a diverse regional client base.
Soto joins Alliant with expertise in creating risk management and capital efficient insurance programs. Prior to joining Alliant, Soto was a property/casualty risk consultant with a national insurance brokerage and consulting firm.
Prior to joining Alliant, Hargrave was an advisor with an insurance agency offering property/casualty, employee benefits, personal insurance and various other solutions.
The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) added Rich Johnson as its new director of communications and public affairs.
Johnson has more than 20 years of experience in communications, public relations and public affairs, including previously serving as the senior communications manager and then senior public affairs manager at USAA.
Wholesale insurance broker and managing general agent, J.M. Wilson, promoted Nicole Lloyd to transportation underwriter in its Westerville, Ohio, office and added Eric Chalus as assistant transportation underwriter in Arlington Heights, Illinois.
Lloyd is responsible for underwriting a variety of new and renewal transportation risks, as well as strengthening relationships with independent insurance agents and company underwriters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. She joined J.M. Wilson in 2018 as an assistant transportation underwriter.
Prior to joining J.M. Wilson, Lloyd was a casualty liability adjuster, large loss field contents adjuster and centralized property adjuster for 10 years.
Chalus assists underwriters with a variety of new and renewal commercial transportation accounts, while maintaining relationships with carriers and independent insurance agents in Illinois and Iowa.
Prior to joining J.M. Wilson, Chalus worked professionally in journalism and sales.
CNA appointed Dieter Korte as senior vice president for its middle market segment.
In this role, Korte will be responsible for profitability, growth and strategic direction of Chicago-based CNA’s middle market business unit. Korte joined CNA in 2016 after 25 years of commercial leadership in the industry and has been an integral part of the organization, working closely with agents and brokers to provide insurance solutions for middle market businesses.
Ryan Specialty Group LLC (Ryan Specialty) in Chicago added Kirk Behrens as chief operating and technology officer of Ryan Specialty Benefits. Behrens has operations and technology experience within insurance brokerages.
Prior to joining Ryan Specialty, Behrens held senior leadership positions at Aon including chief information officer for Aon plc. and chief operating officer for Global Health Solutions. He also previously held leadership roles at Marsh and was a management consultant at Accenture.
For more than 25 years, Behrens has worked with insurance leaders to design and build health and risk solutions to address challenges facing employers.
IC International promoted Darren Shigemura to executive vice president. Shigemura oversees the contract binding and policy services units and assists in the overall management of the company’s operations in this new role.
Shigemura joined IC International in 2014. He previously served as vice president, executive underwriter and broker. He has more than 15 years of experience in the finance and insurance industries.
IC International, wholly owned by Island Insurance, offers property/casualty, professional liability and specialty insurance programs for unique insurance risks.
Phil Kalin, president and CEO of Pinnacol Assurance, is retiring from the position, the company announced.
Kalin is set to retire as of March 31, 2022, after more than eight years with the company. Pinnacol’s board of directors has launched a national search for Kalin’s replacement.
Pinnacol Assurance is a Colorado workers’ compensation insurance provider.
CopperPoint Insurance Cos. in Arizona named Dawn Jaffray chief financial officer.
Jaffray joins CopperPoint with more than 28 years of financial management within the commercial property/casualty insurance industry. She was most recently chief financial officer for United Fire Group Insurance.