People & Places

NFP named Andrew Canning senior vice president and head of project risk advisory for the company’s North America construction and infrastructure group. The group, part of NFP’s specialty business, provides clients with comprehensive construction and surety services designed specifically for complex national and cross-border projects.

Canning joins NFP from Marsh, where he served as managing director and led the construction team. He also has served as senior vice president at Aon Risk Services and in leadership roles with Amoco, Near North Insurance Brokerage and Wrapid Specialty.

Specialty P/C insurance platform Everspan Group appointed Darwin Lucas as chief underwriting and reinsurance officer. He will oversee the company’s program business and reinsurance relationships.

Based in Atlanta, Lucas has more than 24 years of experience in program insurance. Most recently, he was U.S. head of Casualty & Professional Hybrid Solutions at Everest Reinsurance Co. Prior to that, he was senior vice president of casualty programs for Maxum Specialty Insurance Group.

Liberty Mutual Insurance appointed Meg Sutton as chief operating officer for Global Risk Solutions North America and Taylor Archambault as senior vice president for U.S. casualty claims.

Sutton, who joined Boston, Massachusetts-based Liberty Mutual in 2015, formerly led the U.S. casualty claims team. She has more than 25 years of experience in leadership positions ranging from claims and operations to reinsurance and specialty insurance.

Archambault, who previously led the North America property and marine claims team, succeeds Sutton in his new role. Before joining Liberty Mutual in 2019, Archambault held a number of senior claims roles at The Hartford and worked as an attorney representing national insurers in complex litigation.

Boston-based Risk Strategies appointed Doran Lamond commercial lines leader for the New England region. In this new role, Lamond will be responsible for building a regional strategy for the commercial property/casualty business.

Lamond brings nearly 30 years of industry experience to this new role. She joined Risk Strategies in 2021 through the acquisition of Tripoint Insurance.

Fred C. Church Insurance, headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts, added Amy Daley to its commercial insurance team as a client executive. Daley’s focus is on the insurance and risk management needs of educational institutions across the U.S.

Daley joins Church from FM Global, where she worked for more than 12 years, most recently as practice leader for FM Global’s Education and Healthcare Group Practice. She previously worked for Arch Re, Gen Re and Lockton.

Great American Insurance Group, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, has promoted Brian D. DeSoto, Carrie A. Little and Richard (Rich) L. Suter to divisional group presidents.

DeSoto started his career with Great American in the corporate claims division in 2008. In 2010, he joined Great American Risk Solutions, formerly the specialty E&S division. He was promoted to divisional president in January 2021. With this promotion, in addition to serving as divisional president, DeSoto assumes reporting responsibilities for Great American’s environmental division and mid-continent group.

Little joined Great American in 2004 as a business analyst. In 2006, she joined the leadership development program and subsequently the specialty human services division. She most recently served as divisional senior vice president.

In her new role, she will oversee the accident and health, surety bonds, public sector, excess liability and innovative markets divisions, and Great American’s loss control services.

Suter joined Great America’s Alternative Markets Division in 2012. He was promoted to divisional president in 2017.

Suter will continue to serve in this role with the additional responsibilities of overseeing Great American’s strategy and innovation, new revenue and strategic partnerships and agency and broker relations functions. He has 30 years of insurance industry experience.

CRC Group named Kristyn Smallcombe as casualty practice group director.

Based in CRC Group’s Chicago, office, Smallcombe will join Commercial Solutions Division’s National Casualty Practice Group Leader Bob Greenebaum in supporting the CRC Casualty team nationwide.

Smallcombe comes from Argo Group US. She brings over 20 years of industry experience to the role. She has held senior casualty positions at Argo, Swiss Re, and AIG/Lexington.

CRC Group is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia.

The Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA) named Neal Carlton as president of the TXOGA Insurance Agency, headquartered in Austin.

Carlton most recently served as vice president of membership and corporate secretary at TXOGA.

As president of the agency, he will oversee the TXOGA Workers’ Compensation Safety Group.

Before his stint with TXOGA, Carlton was the coordinator for state and federal relations at the Texas Department of Agriculture.

Benefits consultant Nick Long has joined Alliant Insurance Services as senior vice president within its Employee Benefits Group.

Long, who is based in Texas, has helped businesses and municipalities manage their employee benefits for more than 15 years. Before joining Alliant, Long was an area vice president at Gallagher Benefit Services.

Alliant is headquartered in Irvine, California.

Cadence Insurance Inc., a subsidiary of Cadence Bank headquartered in Houston, Texas, hired Gabrielle (Gabby) Bryant as cyber practice leader.

Among Bryant’s specialties are enterprise security assessments, pre-deal cyber due diligence and the development of cybersecurity policy for private equity clients. Before joining Cadence Insurance, Bryant worked for a large international insurance broker for nearly a decade, where she held various key positions in its cyber security practice.

Michael Mayton has been appointed to the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission (AWCC).

Mayton is a lawyer in private practice specializing in the defense of employers and insurance carriers. He has practiced law for 46 years and for the past 30 years has focused his practice on the defense of workers’ compensation cases in Arkansas.

Mayton has served twice as Special Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Texas Mutual Insurance Co., based in Austin, Texas, hired Meredith Duncan as the president and chief executive officer of the company’s new health-focused subsidiary.

Subject to regulatory approval, the subsidiary will seek to offer additional health insurance options to small businesses.

Duncan previously served as president of the Texas market at Bright HealthCare and as the chief growth officer for CVS/Aetna in the Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico markets.

She has 20 years of experience in strategic planning, sales and business development, consumer market research and operations management.

Duncan spent nearly eight years at Ascension Seton Texas, where she served as CEO of Seton Insurance Co. and vice president of accountable care and physician engagement.

The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) announced new leadership for the Administrative Operations, Life and Health, and General Counsel divisions, along with a new chief deputy commissioner.

Jessica Barta is TDI’s new general counsel. Since 2014, she has served as the public counsel for the Office of Injured Employee Counsel (OIEC). Before Barta’s appointment at OIEC, she spent four years at TDI as the workers’ compensation legislative liaison and assistant director of government relations. Prior to her state government service, Barta was general counsel for Great American Financial Resources Inc. Barta starts her new role on Feb. 1.

Melissa Burkhart is the new deputy commissioner of administrative operations. Burkhart joined TDI in 2000 and worked in property/casualty and regulatory policy before moving to administrative operations. For the past five years, she has served as TDI’s associate commissioner of procurement and general services.

Debra Diaz-Lara is the new deputy commissioner of Life and Health. Diaz-Lara joined TDI in 1999 as an insurance specialist. She has served as the director of the Managed Care Quality Assurance Office and the associate commissioner for Life and Health. Before coming to TDI, she worked for a commercial health insurance plan and in hospitals and physician offices.

Dan Paschal is the new chief deputy commissioner. Paschal was TDI’s deputy commissioner for external relations and served as a deputy commissioner at the Division of Workers’ Compensation. Before joining TDI, he worked at the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas House of Representatives and the Governor’s Office. Paschal is a licensed attorney.

The board of directors for Mississippi-based SouthGroup Insurance & Financial Services named Cyndi Tullos chief executive officer. Tullos, the chief operating officer since 2019, replaces Ronnie Tubertini, who was CEO for 21 years. Tubertini will remain as president and a board member.

Tullos, who joined SouthGroup after leaving the WorldCom telecommunications company in 2002, held leadership roles in the Independent Insurance Agents of Mississippi, ACORD and other organizations.

Ategrity Specialty Insurance Co. named former Deputy CEO Justin Cohen as CEO of the company.

Cohen has led the evolution of Ategrity’s business in the excess and surplus (E&S) lines market, including an expansion into the middle market segment.

Cohen also serves on the board of Ategrity Specialty Holdings, the parent company of the E&S insurer.

Ategrity is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.