People & Places
American International Group announced that President and CEO Peter Zaffino will assume the additional role of chairman of the board of directors, effective January 1, 2022.
As previously announced, Brian Duperreault, currently executive chairman, will retire from the board at year end 2021. The plan to have Zaffino succeed Duperreault as CEO was announced last October, after Zaffino had taken on the role as president and also become a director.
In January 2020, Zaffino took on the title of president from Duperreault. On February 11, 2021, AIG entered into letter agreements with Zaffino and Duperreault laying out the leadership transition. That agreement with Zaffino provided that he will serve as president and CEO for an initial annual target direct compensation of $17 million.
Zaffino joined AIG as executive vice president and global chief operating officer in July 2017. He assumed the additional role of CEO of AIG’s general insurance business in November 2017. He joined AIG from Marsh & McLennan Companies, where he was CEO of insurance broker Marsh from 2011 to 2017 and chairman of the risk and insurance services segment of MMC from 2015 to 2017.
He was also a member of MMC’s executive committee. Zaffino and Duperreault worked together at Marsh when Duperreault took over the brokerage firm in 2008.
Gina Bernardo has been promoted to account manager within the environmental and construction professional (ECP) practice of RT Specialty. She is based in RT ECP’s Hamilton, New Jersey, offices.
Since joining the team in 2019, Bernardo has supported the practice’s production teams by creating sales proposals, developing coverage assessments and providing various account management tasks.
Prior to joining the team, Bernardo served as an intern at Hartree Partners LP in New York City.
RT ECP is a part of the RT Specialty division of RSG Specialty LLC, a Delaware limited liability company based in Illinois. RSG Specialty LLC, is a subsidiary of Ryan Specialty Group LLC.
Cross Insurance, a subsidiary of Cross Financial Corp. and an independent insurance provider in the Northeast, promoted Eric Jermyn as president of employee benefits. He is based in Portland, Maine.
Cross Employee Benefits represents more than 15,000 clients throughout the Northeast. As president, Jermyn will lead Cross Employee Benefits by providing guidance and support to the internal management of Cross’s clients.
An insurance industry veteran, Jermyn most recently served as president of Cross Benefit Solutions, a subsidiary of Cross. He also worked in a variety of sales positions for more than two decades, working in partnership with Cross and other brokers in Maine.
Since its founding in 1954, Cross Insurance has grown through the acquisition of more than 120 insurance agencies throughout the Northeast. The company now has 1,000 employees operating out of offices in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Florida.
Industry veteran Bill Moore has started a new independent insurance agency in Ridgeland, Mississippi.
Wm. Moore & Co. will specialize in high worth personal lines and small business insurance in central Mississippi. The agency is a member of SIAA. The agency offers property/casualty insurance for both individuals and small businesses through most major carriers.
Moore started in the property/casualty insurance business 25 years ago with a large, family-owned agency in Jackson, Mississippi. He has spent his career working on middle-market and large commercial accounts.
Moore’s wife Leigh Anne, a school teacher since 1987, joins the firm as shareholder and account manager.
XS Brokers (XSB), an independent insurance underwriting and wholesale brokerage group, has expanded the role of Brian A. Dunn to include Southeast regional leader. The move is part of the company’s plan to expand its brand efforts throughout the entire region.
Dunn joined XS in November 2020 and has focused on developing XS Brokers as a wholesaler partner for retail agents in the Southeast, according to President Eric Wirkus. Before joining XS Brokers, Dunn worked as a marketing representative for Safeway Insurance Co. and as a commercial underwriter for Hull & Co. He also served in the U.S. Navy.
With offices throughout the Northeast and Southeast, XS Brokers Insurance Agency is an independent binding authority and wholesale brokerage group headquartered in Massachusetts providing coverage exclusively to retail agents and brokers.
Engle Martin & Associates, LLC, a national independent adjusting and claims management provider, has added Roberto Stewart to the company’s executive leadership team as the chief operating officer.
Stewart will be based in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, office and report to Stephen Beene, president of Engle Martin & Associates. He will oversee Engle Martin & Associates’ business operations. Stewart has more than two decades of domestic and international experience across multiple industries including insurance, real estate, professional services and consulting.
Prior to joining Engle Martin & Associates, he held multiple executive positions for companies such as American International Group (AIG), McKinsey & Company and Allstate Insurance.
Engle Martin & Associates, LLC is a privately held and owner operated company providing claims services in commercial property, casualty, inland marine/cargo, heavy equipment, large loss adjusting, subrogation, appraisal/umpire, specialty audits and TPA/claims management.
Midlands Management Corp. appointed Jennifer (Jennie) Reed as vice president of brokerage, based in the company’s Dallas office.
Reed will oversee the wholesale brokerage unit and will co-manage the specialty program business unit, which includes strategic involvement with administration, consulting and servicing operations. Reed brings brokerage expertise to her current roles and responsibilities.
With 22 years of experience in the commercial lines brokerage industry, she offers knowledge of both the retail and wholesale segments of the business. Prior to Midlands, she worked at top national wholesale brokerages where she became an expert in commercial brokerage, contract underwriting, sales and business development. She began her career as a commercial account manager for an independent retail insurance agency.
Midlands Management Corporation is a managing general agent, wholesale broker, program administrator and insurance services provider with a specialty in excess workers’ compensation and occupational accident.
IMA Inc. added a marine practice group with the hiring of three new insurance veterans in its Houston office, expanding its expertise across the spectrum of marine coverages to include hull, liabilities and cargo. The new team leaders are Katie McCord, Jason Homrighaus and Allyn Roberts.
The three professionals come to IMA from different firms and with different backgrounds but have been collaborating for nearly a decade.
McCord will serve as IMA’s senior vice president and national marine practice leader. She has spent her 15-year career in marine insurance, including roles on both the broking and underwriting side. She started her career in London as a broker and in 2009 moved to Houston, where she later became a leading underwriter for domestic and international risks.
Homrighaus joins IMA as senior vice president – energy and marine. A licensed attorney with experience at one of the world’s largest law firms and as in-house counsel for an internationally based energy company. Throughout his 20 years in the energy industry, he has amassed expertise in contractual risk transfer and indemnities, product identification, policy negotiation, risk identification, legal and regulatory issues, and contentious and complex claims resolution.
Roberts also joins IMA as a senior vice president for energy and marine. With nearly 20 years in the insurance industry, he brings a range of experience that includes marketing, servicing and broking for domestic and international clients.
The Plexus Groupe in Deer Park, Illinois, named Edmund A. Stephan III as corporate attorney, a new role.
Based in Illinois, Stephan will work with colleagues and clients across the country and directly with senior leadership to deliver and stay ahead of client needs and strengthen the firm’s legal capacity.
Prior to joining The Plexus Groupe, Stephan served as associate general counsel for Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. in Northbrook, Illinois.
The Plexus Groupe provides employee benefits, property/casualty insurance, corporate retirement plans, personal lines insurance, benefits technology services and mergers and acquisitions.
Insurance and reinsurance veteran Chris Harrington joined the Los Angeles-based reinsurance intermediary G. J. Sullivan Co., Reinsurance, as vice president.
Based in Chicago, Harrington will report to John Threlfall, senior vice president and head of facultative. Harrington brings three decades of property facultative experience from Swiss Re handling a variety of underwriting, marketing and management roles over 29 years.
Previously, Harrington served as an excess and surplus (E&S) underwriter at Chubb Group of Companies and as a personal lines underwriter at Amica Mutual Group.
Established in 1980 and owned by Jerry Sullivan, chairman, GJS Re is a national insurance intermediary providing consulting, market connections and reinsurance to program managers and issuing carriers, and product development services for select divisions of regional and national insurance companies.
IMA Financial Group named Donna MacConnell as senior vice president and managing director of claims.
MacConnell has more than 30 years in the industry, having led claims and coverage departments, and served as an individual contributor in personal and commercial lines. Before joining IMA, she spent seven years at Lockton as senior vice president and director of claims.
IMA Financial Group is an insurance brokerage firm offering risk management, insurance, employee benefits and wealth management practices.
Lockton Cos. named Michelle Wong as vice president and senior benefits consultant.
She will lead client relationships and service for middle market companies in San Diego, California.
Wong has 30 years of experience in employee benefits consulting, holding leadership positions at brokerages including at Mercer in San Diego. Prior to Mercer, she was an account executive at Gallagher Benefit.
Lockton’s Pacific region has nine offices in the Western United States, including Portland, Oregon, and California offices located in Sonoma, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Encino,
Los Angeles, Irvine and San Diego.