People & Places

Great American Insurance Group has promoted Jason M. Cohen to senior vice president and Julie F. Kadnar to divisional group president within its Property & Casualty Group.

In 2006, Cohen joined the company as divisional vice president within Corporate Claims. In 2008, he transitioned to Strategic Comp, a business unit focused on workers’ compensation insurance.

Cohen has served as divisional president of Strategic Comp since 2017 and as a divisional reporting officer since October 2020. He now assumes additional reporting responsibilities for the Specialty Human Services Division and Great American’s Loss Control department.

Kadnar joined the company in 1988 as an auditor. In 1991, she transitioned to the Product Data Compliance department of the company, where she served as divisional senior vice president.

In 2004, Kadnar joined the Property & Inland Marine Division and has held various leadership roles of increasing responsibility.

She was promoted to divisional president in 2017 and will continue to serve in this role, with the additional responsibilities of overseeing the Ocean Marine Division and the Dempsey & Siders Insurance Agency.

Markel International hired Ben Wakeham as senior war and terrorism underwriter and head of terrorism, North America.

The new arrival marks Markel International’s entry into the U.S. war and terrorism market. Wakeham will be responsible for leading a team in the U.S., which will allow the organization to serve clients locally.

Reporting to Ed Winter, senior underwriter and head of terrorism at Markel International, Wakeham will be based at Markel’s London office for 12 months, before moving to the U.S. next year.

Previously, Wakeham was employed as assistant vice president and head of property and terrorism at Hiscox USA, Los Angeles, where he managed the terrorism portfolio. He also provided leadership and mentoring to Hiscox’s national team of underwriters.

Brace Underwriting Limited appointed Glenn Dorr as head of distribution, North America.

Based in Boston, Dorr will report to Adam Holberry, co-founder and chief underwriting officer.

Dorr brings more than two decades of experience to Brace and joins from Hiscox, where since 2017 he held the role of head of business development and broker relations, North America.

Prior to joining Hiscox, Dorr held a number of senior positions including regional director of northeast U.S. for Lloyd’s of London and senior vice president of HCC Specialty.

Brace Underwriting is part of the London-based Beat Group, which includes Beat Syndicate 4242, a Lloyd’s of London syndicate.

Wholesale broker Brown & Riding added Jeffrey Jamison to its national casualty practice in New York.

Jamison specializes in construction, real estate, manufacturing and environmental business, with a specialization in the New York construction sector. He joins Brown & Riding as senior vice president and broker.

Jamison joins Brown & Riding from wholesaler AmWINS Group which he joined in 2015. Prior to that, he was a broker with the startup Wholesale Trading Insurance Services, now JenCap.

He also has served as an underwriter and underwriting analyst at AIG in Boston and New York.

National wholesale broker Brown & Riding was founded in northern California in 1980.

The Vermont Captive Insurance Association chose Kevin Mead as president, effective Feb. 22. Mead replaces Richard Smith, who led the organization for 12 years.

Mead brings association management experience, having engineered a merger of three global independent accounting associations and forming PrimeGlobal, which represented 2,000 partners. He also was vice president with Spokane County United Way and most recently was the executive director of a rare disease foundation.

The VCIA, established in 1985, provides lobbying and education for its nearly 400 members.

Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Groundspeed, a provider of SaaS-delivered smart submission and analytics solutions to the property/casualty insurance industry, recently hired three key executives — Vishal Srivastava, Devon Watts and Danielle Hurley.

Srivastava joins Groundspeed as vice president of Engineering, where he’ll lead the company’s engineering, data science, enablement, and automation efforts. Prior to Groundspeed, Srivastava worked for Marcus — the consumer division of Goldman Sachs — as vice president.

As vice president of Marketing, Watts will be responsible for positioning Groundspeed as the thought and market leader for smart submission and analytics in property/casualty insurance. Watts previously led marketing teams at Asana, Carta, and most recently RollWorks.

Transitioning from a similar role at her previous employer, Hurley comes to Groundspeed as the new vice president of Sales. At her last position, Hurley built out Feedzai’s forecasting, revenue reporting, and SDR process in addition to tripling the company pipeline. Prior to Feedzai, Hurley worked in financial sales and began her career in investment banking with Goldman Sachs.

Alera Group appointed Tracy Reyes as associate general counsel, M&A. As associate general counsel, Reyes will support the organization’s strategic growth initiatives, managing the legal activities related to all national merger and acquisition transactions.

Prior to joining Deerfield, Illinois-based Alera Group, Reyes served as an associate at Kirkland & Ellis, where she led deal teams for significant transactions.

Reyes is based in Chicago.

Alera Group also appointed Tina Santelli as vice president of Worksite Specialty Solutions and Services. In this role, Santelli will grow Alera Group’s national specialty benefits solutions, enhancing offerings, education and services for clients of all sizes.

Santelli previously served as vice president, Carrier Partner Management at Alera Group.

Before joining Alera Group, Santelli’s previous experience includes serving as vice president of Specialty Benefits with GCG Financial, where she provided clients with ancillary solutions. Before her time with GCG, she worked with Unum for 13 years on the sales and service side.

Deerfield, Illinois-based Alera Group an independent, national insurance and wealth management firm with more than $850 million in annual revenue, offering comprehensive employee benefits, property/casualty insurance, retirement plan services and wealth services solutions to clients nationwide.

POWERS Insurance & Risk Management hired Kari Hohn as a surety underwriting executive.

In this position, she will collect and assess client information to best determine credit quality and underwriting acceptability. Hohn will be responsible for developing and managing a book of business, as well as providing risk analysis and technical expertise to new and existing clients.

Hohn brings more than 15 years of experience to her position. Prior to joining POWERS, Hohn served as a surety underwriting executive at a Kansas City insurance agency. She previously worked as an operations manager/CFO for an electrical contractor based in Kansas.

Based in St. Louis, Missouri, POWERS Insurance & Risk Management provides personal and business insurance, surety, and risk management.

Alabama-based Palomar Insurance has named Justin Smitherman chief technology officer, charged with tech strategies and management.

Smitherman started with Palomar in 2011 and was promoted to information technology director in 2013.

Palomar Insurance, which writes commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, was founded in 1954 and has offices in Montgomery, Alabama, as well as in Georgia and Tennessee.

Insurance Office of America added three people to its franchised dealership program.

Chip Sellas previously owned an insurance agency and worked with one of the largest property/casualty insurers in the country, specializing in auto, truck, motorcycle, agriculture and heavy equipment dealerships.

Paul Elliott has two decades of experience in auto and truck rentals, dealerships and captives.

Mat Pope has represented franchised auto, truck and equipment dealerships and is a certified risk manager.

IoA, founded in 1988, said it is the fourth-largest privately held insurance brokerage in the country. It is headquartered in Longwood, Florida, and has 1,300 associates in 60 offices in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

Century Risk Advisors, an independent insurance and risk management firm based in Boca Raton, named Jose Gonzalez managing director of Century Benefits, a division of the company.

Gonzalez, of Miami, has more than 20 years’ experience in employee benefits.

Founded in 2013, Century Risk Advisors is licensed to write insurance in all 50 states.

The J. Morey Company Inc. Insurance Agents & Brokers in Cypress, California, named Brian Chu to the sales team as a senior vice president.

Chu will be responsible for new business development and serve as an advisor to clients on risk mitigation strategies.

The J. Morey Company also named Jeff Breskin senior vice president of risk management. Breskin will be responsible for overseeing the expansion of the risk management department.

He has more than 35 years of experience in claims management, risk control and safety.

The J. Morey Company is a California-based insurance agency providing clients with insurance and financial products. The J. Morey Company operates four California offices in Cypress, Downtown Los Angeles, San Jose and Torrance.

LP Insurance Services LLC named Adam Heuer and the Heuer Insurance Agency to the LP Insurance Services team.

Heuer joins LP Insurance as a member/owner and will continue serving clients throughout the Sparks, Nevada, community and beyond.

Heuer has nearly 20 years of experience specifically within the personal lines and commercial insurance space.

Reno, Nevada-based LP Insurance is a risk management and insurance brokerage firm specializing in property/casualty, surety, workers’ compensation, employee benefits, personal and risk management services.

Woodruff Sawyer promoted Ryan Meissner to vice president leader of the Southern California employee benefits practice.

Meissner previously served four years as the vice president of data analytics for Woodruff Sawyer.

Before Woodruff Sawyer, he held underwriting positions at Burnham Benefits and UnitedHealth Group.

San Francisco, California-based Woodruff provides property/casualty, management liability, cyber liability, employee benefits, and personal wealth management services.