People & Places

Daniel J. Kaufman will become president of wholesale broker Burns & Wilcox in January. He previously served as chief operating officer for Burns & Wilcox, the largest subsidiary of H.W. Kaufman Group.

He is only the third president in the history of Burns & Wilcox. He is preceded by his father, H.W. Kaufman Group Chairman, President and CEO Alan Jay Kaufman, and by his late grandfather, Herbert W. Kaufman, who founded the company more than 50 years ago.

In his new role, Kaufman will have leadership responsibility for Burns & Wilcox and its growth in the U.S. Additionally, he will continue to serve as executive vice president of H.W. Kaufman Group, overseeing the company’s information technology, marketing and compliance departments.

Burns & Wilcox is a global wholesale insurance broker and underwriting manager with expertise in commercial and professional liability, property, environmental, marine and personal insurance.

American Family spinout Arturo has hired Anita Tulsiani as its first-ever chief marketing officer.

Tulsiani will be responsible for building the marketing organization, with an emphasis on digital marketing.

Previously, she was the vice president of marketing for real estate brokerage eXp Realty. Before that, she was vice president of marketing at CoreLogic, a provider of property data products.

Arturo is a deep learning company offering physical property characteristic data and predictive analysis for residential and commercial properties for use in the property/casualty insurance, reinsurance, lending and securities markets.

Arturo is a creation of American Family’s own research and development investment division.

Risk Strategies, a national specialty insurance brokerage and risk management firm, hired Alison Murphy as national practice leader of private client services.

In this role, Murphy will develop and lead the overall national growth strategy for private client services. She will focus on enhancing the client experience for Risk Strategies’ high-net-worth clients and deliver tailored solutions to serve their insurance and risk management needs.

Murphy comes to Risk Strategies with 25 years of experience in the property/casualty insurance industry, the majority of which has been spent in the high-net-worth segment.

Prior to joining, she worked for the PURE Group of Insurance Companies where she held various leadership positions, most recently serving as Eastern zone executive. Previously, she held various roles focused on business development and underwriting for AIG and The Chubb Corporation.

NFP, an insurance broker and consultant that provides property/casualty, corporate benefits, retirement and individual solutions, hired Josh Wozman as senior vice president of public relations and communications.

Wozman is responsible for helping to grow NFP’s global communications infrastructure as the firm strategically expands across North America and Europe.

Wozman comes to NFP from Willis Towers Watson, where he served as director and head of North America public relations, leading strategic external communications for the global advisory and brokerage company. Prior to that, he served in a variety of communications roles for Burson-Marsteller, The PMI Group Inc., Shinoff Group, and the Consulate General of Israel. In all, he brings more than 20 years of marketing, communications and public relations experience to this new role at NFP.

Wozman will report to Eric Boester, executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Ames & Gough, an insurance broker and risk management consultant specializing in serving design professionals, law firms, associations/nonprofits and other professional service organizations, appointed Santina Ragonese as a senior account manager in the Boston, Massachusetts, office.

Ragonese, who has more than 10 years of experience handling property/casualty insurance for design firms, joins a team of Ames & Gough professionals serving the risk management and insurance needs of architectural and engineering clients.

Previously, she was an account manager for five years with Smith Brothers, an insurance broker in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Earlier, she held the same position at Maloney & Company LLC in Guilford, Connecticut. Prior to her roles in insurance, Ragonese worked for nearly a decade in mortgage banking with Royal Bank of Canada in Boca Raton, Florida.

Epic Insurance Brokers, a property/casualty insurance brokerage and employee benefits consultant, has named Alabama-based Crawford McInnis as chief sales officer.

McInnis, of Birmingham, joined Epic in 2014 and led the company’s expansion into the Alabama market, Epic said in a news release.

Brian Tanner, who has worked with McInnis in Alabama, will lead Epic’s specialty construction practice.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Epic has more than 2,600 associates in 80 offices around the country.

Somers Risk Consulting has named a South Carolina Department of Insurance analyst as senior manager of captive consulting services.

Eva Conley was a supervisor and senior financial analyst for captive insurance at the South Carolina DOI, according to Somers, a boutique captive insurance firm.

Florida-based Security First, a homeowners insurance provider, has appointed Monique Miskimon-Aikens as marketing and communications director.

She previously worked with Booz Allen Hamilton in Maryland, was marketing director for Florida Wealth Planning Group, part of Ameriprise Financial, and was a college professor.

Risk Strategies, a national specialty insurance brokerage and risk management firm, announced that Terry Lyons was appointed as the national education practice leader.

In this role, Lyons will develop and lead the overall national growth and client service strategy for the education industry practice. Lyons is based out of Texas.

Since joining Risk Strategies at the end of 2019 through the acquisition of Academic HealthPlans, Lyons has served as the head of the company’s education industry student health practice. He will remain head of that practice, which serves more than 350 colleges and universities nationwide, while taking on overall responsibility for Risk Strategies’ education practice and solutions across property/casualty, student health and employee benefits.

Houston-based AmRisc Group, a catastrophe-focused managing general agent in the U.S., announced Molly Nickoles has been appointed as CEO of Waypoint Wholesale, the company’s wholesale brand.

Nickoles previously served as the chief underwriting officer for the builders risk product. She started her career as a senior underwriter with AmRisc Group in 2003.

As AmRisc Group approaches $2 billion in gross written premium, Nickoles’ appointment is part of an ongoing strategy to position the company and executive leadership team for continued growth.

Other recently announced leadership changes will also support this growth strategy. Billy Hammond will succeed Nickoles as chief underwriting officer of builders risk for AmRisc Group. Marcus Kelley will lead as division president of the now-combined Waypoint Technical Risks and National Specialty. Finally, in preparation for the upcoming retirement of Scott Hornsby, Thomas Bonnarigo will step into the role of AmRisc’s chief underwriting officer of national accounts in 2022.

Midwest Insurance Agency Alliance (MIAA) announced Denise Zabka has recently joined the organization as agency development field specialist.

In this role, Zabka will be directly responsible for agency development and consulting services of MIAA member agencies in Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, with a focus on agency growth and development opportunities.

Zabka comes to the organization with more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry and an understanding of the Midwest markets. Prior to MIAA, she held leadership roles in two captive insurance companies, including as agency manager and district manager.

Zabka will work closely with MIAA Regional Vice Presidents Clayton Gravatt and Brian Boeshans. Together, they will be a resource for Midwest agencies facing start-up challenges, growing personal and commercial lines, technology adoption and usage, as well as new business and retention strategies.

Founded in 2001, Midwest Insurance Agency Alliance Inc. (MIAA) is comprised of more than 200 independent agency members spanning across the states of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.

JM Wilson promoted Phyllis Aranda to executive transportation underwriter in its Arlington Heights, Illinois, office.

Aranda 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 Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Aranda has been with JM Wilson since 2008 and has held various positions in JM Wilson’s transportation department. Most recently, she held the position of senior transportation underwriter. Prior to joining JM Wilson, she served in various rater and underwriter roles at American Country Insurance for 19 years.

Founded in 1920, JM Wilson is a managing general agency and surplus lines broker providing independent insurance agents access to specialty markets.

JM Wilson can provide coverage for standard and hard-to-place commercial transportation, property/casualty, brokerage, marine, personal lines and surety.

Alliant Insurance Services named Peter Johnson executive vice president and managing director.

Johnson is based in Portland, Oregon, and will focus on providing strategic risk management solutions for agribusiness clients across the country.

Johnson has 28 years of experience in the brokerage field specializing in forestry and real estate. He was most recently resident managing director for Aon Risk Solutions.

Alliant also named Amy Barlow and Rob Doerfler senior vice presidents in Portland, Oregon.

Barlow will focus on leading agribusiness and forestry growth and development initiatives. Barlow has 27 years of experience in the underwriting and brokerage fields. Barlow was most recently a senior vice president at Aon.

Doerfler will lead the forest products group. Doerfler has more than 22 years of experience in the insurance industry. Doerfler was previously with Aon. He was with Marsh before that.

XPT named Tom Mansfield as senior vice president. Mansfield will be based in Seattle, Washington. He has more than 15 years of industry experience.

He began his career as a casualty underwriter with Zurich and Argonaut Specialty, later joining Swett & Crawford. He was also a vice president with CRC Group and was a team leader for casualty and environmental.