People & Places
AXA XL named Michelle Chia as chief underwriting officer for cyber in the Americas. Based in New York, Chia joins AXA XL from Zurich North America, where she most recently served as head of professional liability and cyber. She has over 15 years of experience managing professional liability and cyber insurance portfolios.
Chubb, headquartered in Whitehouse Station, N.J., promoted Seth Gillston to executive vice president, head of North America industry practices. Gillston has 28 years of industry experience. He joined Chubb in 2000 and has held several leadership roles. Based in New York, N.Y., he will continue to serve as private equity industry practice leader.
Alera Group, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, appointed Sarah Sheckells as chief human resources officer. Sheckells brings over 27 years of financial services and insurance experience to her new role, most recently serving as senior director, human resources for Alera Group’s Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
DUAL North America, headquartered in San Diego, named Mike Sherry head of its transactional risk division. Sherry previously served as senior vice president in Alliant’s mergers and acquisitions group as a senior transactional risk broker. He will split his time between San Francisco and New York.
JM Wilson, headquartered in Portage, Michigan, made several new hires and promotions in offices across the country.
Katie Priester Bird joined the company as a property/casualty underwriter. She is responsible for various new and renewal commercial risks in Michigan, Minnesota, and Texas.
Tim Guinn joined as a transportation underwriter. Guinn joins JM Wilson with nine years of experience in the insurance industry, focusing on fleet and non-fleet transportation for seven years.
Matthew Peterson was promoted to transportation underwriter. His responsibilities include underwriting new and renewal commercial transportation risks and nurturing relationships with carrier underwriters and independent insurance agents in Indiana and Kentucky.
Devan Dodd was promoted to senior property/casualty underwriter. He is responsible for underwriting a wide variety of new and renewal commercial risks and strengthening relationships with carrier underwriters and independent insurance agents in Michigan and Texas.
Samantha Mitchell joins as an accounting and finance specialist. Mitchell’s responsibilities include a variety of accounting duties, including invoice processing, collections, cash management, month-end closing, and customer support for all JM Wilson offices. She joins JM Wilson with over five years in the insurance industry working for an agency.
Adam Phelps joins as a sales and agency relations specialist. Phelps is the primary resource and liaison for independent insurance agents in Georgia and South Carolina. He joins JM Wilson with 23 years in the insurance industry.
Laura Manner joins as the Ohio branch manager. Manner has over 18 years of experience in the insurance industry, writing multiline commercial business, focusing on technical underwriting and sales strategy.
Laura Cole was promoted to fleet transportation underwriter. Cole joined JM Wilson in 2020 as an assistant fleet transportation underwriter.
Brendan Hagan joins as an assistant fleet transportation underwriter. Before joining JM Wilson, he was a carrier sales representative.
Zeb Cornwell joins as an assistant fleet transportation underwriter.
The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers named Rick Donatini and Tim Collins to vice president positions, and Jules Gootrad as a business development specialist. Donatini joined the firm as vice president, employee benefits. Donatini has more than 30 years of industry experience. Collins joined the firm as vice president, employee benefits producer. He has 15 years of experience in benefits and insurance. Gootrad joined the firm as a business development specialist, benefits. Gootrad has over two decades of experience in business development and client relationship management within the HR and benefits industry. Donatini will work out of Liberty’s Irvine, California, office. Gootrad is working out of the Ontario, California, location, and Collins is located in Centennial, Colorado.
Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc., headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, named Andrew Fotopulos chairman and Peter Plumb chief executive officer.
The two will assume their roles in June upon the retirement of Larry Keefe, current chairman and chief executive officer. Fotopulos and Plumb each have 15 years of experience working with Starkweather & Shepley. Fotopulos currently serves as executive vice president and trustee on the board of directors for Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc. and as president of Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Corp. of Massachusetts. Plumb currently serves as chief operating officer and executive vice president.
Burns & Wilcox named Peter Kestenbaum managing director of its new Boston office. Kestenbaum joins Farmington Hills, Michigan-based Burns & Wilcox with nearly 20 years of industry experience.
ShoreOne Insurance Co., headquartered in Boston, appointed Brendan Voss chief claims officer. Voss has over 25 years of experience in claims process management, strategy development, and resource optimization. Before joining ShoreOne, Voss served as the chief claims officer at Narragansett Bay Insurance Co. and vice president of claims at Homesite Insurance.
Centri Business Consulting, headquartered in Philadelphia, hired John Swanick as senior director and Joe Hayes as managing director to lead its insurance practice.
Swanick and Hayes bring over 70 years of combined insurance and financial services experience. Both join Centri from Grant Thornton.
Burns & Wilcox hired Andy Wood as vice president and practice group leader, professional liability. He is based in Chicago. Most recently, Wood, whose career spans nearly three decades, led Hiscox across the Midwest, overseeing technology, errors and omissions, cyber, management liability, miscellaneous professional liability, allied healthcare, architects and engineers, casualty, terrorism and kidnap and ransom.
Ryan Specialty, headquartered in Chicago, promoted Lana Jankovic to chief audit and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) officer. Jankovic has over 25 years of insurance industry experience in audit, SOX compliance, information technology, risk management, and process improvement and has been with Ryan Specialty for nearly three years.
Connor McCarthy has joined Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, as vice president within the Alliant Americas division. He is based in Chicago. Before joining Alliant, McCarthy worked in risk advisory services, U.S. real estate practice group at Gallagher and risk advisory services, real estate and hospitality practice group at Risk Consulting Partners LLC.
Rockford Mutual Insurance Company, headquartered in Rockford, Illinois, has promoted several team members. Jerald Carpenter was promoted to casualty specialist; Paige Summins was promoted to claims manager; Michelle Christiansen was promoted to manager of marketing; and Dennis Gulling was promoted to senior claims adjuster. In addition, Troy Bardell joined RMIC as a claims representative.
Grange Insurance Company, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, named Kyle Welch vice president of commercial lines underwriting for the East region covering Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia. Welch has 17 years of experience in the P/C insurance industry and eight years with Grange.
Hotchkiss Insurance, an independent insurance agency in Texas, promoted Gary D. Lindsey to vice president of sales. Lindsey, a partner at Hotchkiss, first joined the firm as a commercial insurance specialist. He holds the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) and Certified Risk Manager (CRM) designations.
Marsh, a business of Marsh McLennan headquartered in New York, added Susan Gonzales as its Houston energy hub and office leader. In this dual role, Gonzales will lead a team of more than 70 specialists in Houston who focus exclusively on helping Marsh energy clients identify their risk exposures and achieve financial stability. Gonzales joins Marsh from AIG, where she most recently served as U.S. head of energy casualty.
Alliant Insurance Services named Gary Hysell vice president within its employee benefits group. Based in Austin, Texas, Hysell joins Alliant with over 25 years of industry experience. Before joining Alliant, Hysell was area vice president of client services at Arthur J. Gallagher and a benefit plan administrator at the City of San Antonio.
A group of five experienced individuals have joined the new Bridge Specialty Insurance Brokerage (BSIB) – Dallas office. Janie Williams, broker, brings more than 30 years’ experience to BSIB Dallas. Her career spans both the retail and wholesale sides of the commercial insurance industry. Deborah Garner joins BSIB Dallas as a broker. She began her insurance career with Liberty Insurance and Chubb in Detroit. Robin Page joins BSIB as a vice president and broker. Page’s experience is in larger property and builders’ risk segments. He began his insurance career with Chubb. Chris Contreras, broker, joins BSIB Dallas from its sister company, Texas Security General. Emily Rhine joined Bridge Specialty Insurance Brokerage Dallas as an associate broker. She began her career in claims, and over a five-year period she transitioned to account management then took on the role of marketing broker.
Palomar Insurance Corp., based in Montgomery, Alabama, added Shon Messer in the company’s Birmingham office as vice president. Messer, who spent 16 years at DSD Insurance, an Acrisure agency partner, and 11 years with Allstate before that, will help oversee commercial and personal lines for the Palomar agency.
Residential property insurer, Florida Peninsula Insurance Co., headquartered in Boca Raton, named attorney Nancy Staff director of corporate compliance. Previously, Staff was director of ethics and compliance for Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Before that, she was ethics officer for the Florida Department of Revenue.
The California Workers’ Compensation Institute named Gideon L. Baum chief operating officer. Baum most recently served as vice president of policy at the California Hospital Association.
Tyler Banks joined Alliant Insurance Services as executive vice president, Alliant Private Client. Banks previously served as North America practice leader, president and CEO, personal lines at WTW.
Glenn Pomeroy, former CEO of the California Earthquake Authority (CEA), joined GeoVera as executive vice president of marketing and regulatory affairs. Pomeroy has over 30 years of industry experience, including eight years as North Dakota insurance commissioner and over 15 years as CEA CEO. Pomeroy also has served as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. GeoVera is headquartered in Fairfield, California.
Woodruff Sawyer named Alex Pazooki regional growth leader for Northern California. Previously, Pazooki served as western zone leader, business development for Coalition and as technology sales executive, Northwest region at Travelers. Woodruff Sawyer is headquartered in San Francisco.
Venbrook Group LLC, based in Woodland Hills, California, named Brooke Norton Lais chief marketing officer. Lais has more than 20 years of marketing and CMO experience, including roles at Green Dot Corporation, Procter & Gamble, and Welcome Tech.
Falvey Insurance Group named Jason Olsen as vice president, marine cargo. Olsen, based in Seattle, Washington, focuses on a California-based underwriting portfolio. Olsen previously served as vice president at North Kingstown, Rhode Island-based Falvey from 2014 to 2016. He since served as senior vice president at Marsh, CEO at TreeHawk Farms, and, most recently, ocean marine underwriter at Great American Insurance Group.
PCF Insurance Services (PCF), headquartered in Lehi, Utah, appointed several new members to its leadership team. Brooke DeWyze joined as chief development officer. Before joining PCF Insurance, DeWyze was chief operating officer of Moreton & Company. Adam Reed joined as general counsel. Reed comes from Reed Law Offices plc, a law firm he founded and served as managing principal. Reed previously was executive vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary at Acrisure and spent two decades as in-house counsel at AIG as general counsel of the personal insurance business. Leslie Greve joined PCF Insurance as vice president of marketing, leading the company’s marketing strategy. Greve most recently served as chief marketing officer at BGZ brands. Jeff Hutchins was promoted to chief people officer following his tenure as senior vice president of human resources. Rocky Steele was named senior vice president of operations after leading the company’s legal and compliance function for the past year. Ryan Stradling was named senior vice president of finance and chief of staff, having served as vice president of finance and shared services since joining the company in 2021. Brandon Gray has been promoted to senior vice president and treasurer from vice president of treasury, continuing to lead and expand the company’s investment strategies, financing activities, management of debt compliance, arrangement of funding, and driving treasury compliance.