People & Places

Markel Corp. Co-CEO Thomas S. Gayner, will become sole CEO upon the retirement of Co-CEO Richard R. Whitt III on Jan. 1, 2023.

Also effective Jan. 1, Jeremy A. Noble will become president of Markel’s global insurance engine. Noble is currently senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Gayner as CEO will be responsible for holding company strategy and oversight of Markel’s three profit producing engines of insurance, investments, and Markel Ventures. He also will continue in his role as the chief investment officer of Markel.

Telisa Yancy, president of American Family Insurance Direct, has been named president of the American Family Insurance Group of companies. Yancy’s new role will begin Jan. 1, 2023.

Yancy joined the organization as a marketing director in 2009, and rose to become marketing vice president and then chief marketing officer. In 2019, Yancy was named chief operating officer, and in 2021, she became president of the organization’s direct sales channels, which include insurance companies CONNECT, Homesite and The General.

H.W. Kaufman Group, a privately held global insurance organization, in October promoted 16 associates throughout the United States.

Kevin Heckman was promoted to corporate executive vice president, chief financial officer, H.W. Kaufman Group, from corporate senior vice president, chief financial officer. Mark DeWaal was promoted to president of Afirm, from executive vice president, Afirm. Manny Manuelidis was promoted to corporate senior vice president, Atain, from corporate vice president, claims and litigation, Atain.

Other promotions include: Sam Carson to corporate vice president, operations, H.W. Kaufman Group; Jamie Bonner to corporate vice president, talent acquisition, H.W. Kaufman Group; Drew Dean to vice president, managing director, Burns & Wilcox, Indiana, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Tracy Madigan to corporate associate vice president, talent experience, H.W. Kaufman Group; Shelby Zgnilec to corporate associate vice president, operations and strategic initiatives, H.W. Kaufman Group; William Briscoe to associate vice president, managing director, Burns & Wilcox, Birmingham, Alabama, and Oxford, Mississippi; Jeff Ditmar to associate vice president, claims, Atain; Amy Felder to associate vice president, claims, Atain; Derek Kilmer to associate managing director, Burns & Wilcox, Michigan; Justin Pressly to associate managing director, Burns & Wilcox, North Carolina; George Paull to associate managing director, Burns & Wilcox Brokerage, Scottsdale, Arizona; Brandon Hunter to associate managing director, Burns & Wilcox, Indianapolis; and Jennifer MacKay to senior director, digital transformation, H.W. Kaufman Group.

QBE North America appointed Laura Coppola chief underwriting officer.

Coppola joins the company with more than 25 years of technical underwriting experience in property casualty insurance. She is based in New York, New York, and will serve on North America’s executive management board.

Before joining QBE, Coppola held senior underwriting leadership roles with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, and Arch Insurance Group.

Parametric flood insurance company FloodFlash named Mark Hara as CEO of North America. FloodFlash is headquartered in London, England.

As CEO of North America, Hara is charged with developing and executing the U.S. go-to-market strategy, initially launching for commercial property in Florida, Virginia, Texas, Louisiana and California.

Massachusetts-based ShoreOne, which offers coverage for homeowner perils, as well as flood protection, named Brad Burton senior vice president of operations.

Burton previously was vice president for underwriting at Olympus Insurance Co. He will be based in Tennessee but will work with offices in other states.

Burton, a decorated Army helicopter pilot, has 25 years in the property/casualty business.

ShoreOne Insurance Managers Inc. was founded in 2019. Its policies are distributed through independent insurance agents. ShoreOne currently operates in South Carolina, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.

Branch named Pratiksha Patel as the company’s first chief people officer.

Patel joins the Columbus, Ohio-based company with more than two decades of experience across diverse global industry leaders, including L’Oreal and McKinsey & Company, as well as high-growth disruptors, including CB Insights and Gilt.

Most recently, Patel served as the senior vice president of people at CB Insights.

She has also served as a talent expert for McKinsey & Company and currently is an advisor to PeopleTech Partners, an early-stage advisory and investment group.

Burns & Wilcox, based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, added Brandon McCarty as regional personal insurance practice group leader.

In his new role, McCarty will develop and expand the company’s portfolio of personal insurance products throughout the Midwest and Canada.

With more than 13 years in the insurance industry, McCarty has extensive experience in personal and commercial insurance. His previous roles include territory vice president at AmWINS and senior business development leader at Talage.

Stephens Insurance LLC, an affiliate of Stephens Inc., appointed David Zarr as executive vice president. He brings over 25 years of experience in the insurance brokerage industry, focusing on the energy sector. He is based in the Houston, Texas, office.

Zarr joins Stephens Insurance from Marsh and spent over 20 years with Wortham before that. He began his professional career with JH Blades.

Novatae Risk Group named Richard Kerr as CEO.

Kerr has held leadership roles in the insurance distributions space for more than 30 years. He founded MarketScout in 2000 as the holding company for MarketScout Wholesale, the MarketScout Exchange, MarketScout Underwriters, MarketScout InsurTech Ventures and the MarketScout Incubator. Before founding MarketScout, Kerr was the chief executive officer of Lambert Fenchurch US. He also has served as president of Sedgwick.

Novatae, an MGA, program manager and wholesale broker, acquired MarketScout on Nov. 1.

Liberty Mutual Insurance appointed Jeff Martin as construction distribution executive for its global risk solutions division. He is based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.

Martin has more than 30 years of insurance experience, the last six of which have been at Liberty Mutual.

Woodruff Sawyer named Tim Schmidt vice president, producer, for the Seattle, Washington, office. Before joining Woodruff Sawyer, Schmidt worked at Parker, Smith and Feek, where he was a construction and P/C producer. He is certified as a construction risk insurance specialist.

Denver, Colorado-based Pie Insurance, an insurtech company specializing in workers’ comp insurance for small businesses, has added to its leadership team.

Rick Poulin is the new vice president of underwriting. He previously was vice president of workers’ comp at Travelers.

Joshua Brost, new vice president of marketing, joins Pie with nearly 20 years of experience focused on building integrated and data-driven marketing teams at both startups and large enterprises. Before Pie, Brost led digital and integrated marketing at Bolt and Microsoft.

Sam Elizondo is the new vice president of claims operations. Elizondo brings over 17 years of experience in the financial industry and worked in P/C benefits at The Hartford.