People & Places

Hiscox, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, named Leigh Hellrung as chief operating officer in the U.S.

Hellrung brings over 20 years of industry experience to the role. Before joining Hiscox, Hellrung was head of workplace solutions service operations at Farmers Insurance and previously served as director, strategy and planning, at Zurich Financial Services.

Farmers Insurance added Eric Coleman as president of Business Insurance.

With more than 20 years of insurance industry experience, Coleman comes to Farmers from Nationwide where he held various senior leadership roles in its commercial business over the course of his career.

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI), headquartered in Boston, expanded its global marine capabilities in the U.S., launching ocean marine insurance.

BHSI named Ben Wyatt as head of marine and Chris Frick as head of marine claims in the U.S. Both Wyatt and Frick are based in New York.

Wyatt comes to BHSI with more than a decade of experience in marine insurance. He was most recently head of cargo at Ascot Group.

Frick has more than 30 years of insurance industry experience. Most recently, he spent 16 years in various leadership positions in marine claims at Liberty Mutual.

McGill and Partners, headquartered in London, appointed Duncan Milne and Cabot Lyman as partners to the firm’s U.S. property team.

Milne joins as a partner and head of U.S. property. He brings over 16 years of industry experience, most recently serving as the Greater New York property leader at Aon.

Cabot joins McGill and Partners as partner, U.S. property, bringing a decade of experience from Aon, where she served as senior vice president and team leader in the property practice.

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) promoted Amy Bowman to head of multinational. She was previously vice president of multinational.

Bowman has more than two decades of experience as an attorney and in insurance leadership. She joined BHSI in 2014.

Chubb promoted Melissa Scheffler to chief operating officer of Personal Risk Services (PRS).

Currently, Scheffler serves as regional executive officer for the Mid-Atlantic region. Bryce Graham, who currently serves as the Philadelphia and Harrisburg branch manager, will succeed Scheffler.

In her new role, Scheffler will be responsible for the execution of the business’s growth and portfolio management plans.

Graham will lead local delivery of Chubb’s offerings through retail distribution partners in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Virginia and West Virginia.

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited appointed Pauline Morley as head of E&O in the U.S.

Morley joins AXIS with more than 35 years of professional liability underwriting and leadership experience. Most recently, she served as senior vice president, miscellaneous professional liability and architects and engineers liability at Argo Pro.

Jodi Rosensaft joined Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, as managing director, advisory leader – representation and warranties insurance, Alliant Specialty, in the company’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) vertical. She is based in New York.

Before Alliant, Rosensaft served as transactional risk chief strategy officer for North America at Marsh.

Victor, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, appointed Tim McDougald president of its Victor U.S. specialty underwriting business. He is based in Boston.

McDougald previously worked at Marsh for 34 years, serving in various leadership roles in New York and Boston.

Maryland Insurance Commissioner Kathleen A. Birrane has announced she plans to resign effective June 30 and to return to private practice at DLA Piper, the law firm where she was a partner until being appointed commissioner in May 2020.

Birrane was appointed to lead the Maryland Insurance Administration by Gov. Larry Hogan in 2020 and confirmed by the Senate in 2021.

She remained as insurance commissioner after Gov. Wes Moore took office.

Leif Assurance, headquartered in St. Louis, hired Vincent Sanfilippo as a construction risk advisor.

Sanfilippo has more than 15 years of experience in insurance and construction. He most recently served as operations manager at Parker Land Group.

Applied Underwriters, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, named Gregg Holtmeier vice president of strategic development.

Holtmeier has been in the insurance and reinsurance fields since 2000. He previously served as chief strategy officer and executive vice president (EVP) at BMS Group, EVP at Guy Carpenter and EVP at JLT Re.

Alera Group, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, appointed Kyle Samuel as executive vice president of national operations.

Samuel brings more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. Before joining Alera Group, Samuel served as chief operating officer at McGriff.

RT Specialty, the wholesale distribution division of Ryan Specialty, headquartered in Chicago, promoted Jason Murrey to president of commercial lines binding authority.

Murrey joined RT Specialty in 2017 through the acquisition of N-Surance Outlets where he served as president and CEO.

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) appointed Hart Humble head of Customer & Broker Engagement for the South Central U.S. Humble is based in Houston.

Humble has spent more than 30 years in the insurance industry. Her experience includes senior level roles in business development at insurance companies and brokers.

Tampa-based Slide Insurance named former Farmers Insurance vice president Charles “Chas” Powell senior vice president of sales.

Powell has more than 20 years in the industry and began his career at his family’s insurance agency in Florida. He most recently was vice president of independent agency distribution with Farmers/Foremost.

Alliant Insurance Services added John Garner as a producer in its employee benefits group, based in Atlanta.

Garner was previously a benefits consultant at OneDigital and is licensed to sell health, life and accident insurance.

USG Insurance Services Inc., headquartered in Tampa, Florida, hired Calvin Chen as an associate producer/broker in the company’s Irvine, California, office.

Chen has over 18 years of experience in client consulting, revenue/lead generation and sales.

Crest Insurance Group in Tucson, Arizona, named Andrew McMurrey a commercial lines broker in Tucson and hired Kyle Jacobo as an employee benefits broker in Scottsdale.

McMurrey previously served as an aircraft pneudraulic systems mechanic in the Arizona Air National Guard and a wheeled vehicle mechanic in the U.S. Army.

Jacobo most recently worked as a financial representative at Northwestern Mutual.

WCF Insurance, headquartered in Sandy, Utah, promoted Janice Co to chief operating officer.

Co joined WCF in 2022 as the senior vice president of small business.

Kris McFarland retired from WCF as senior vice president and chief human resource officer, and Jill Christensen has been appointed to the role.

Christensen joined the WCF team in 2002, starting in the claims department before transitioning to human resources in 2013. She has an extensive background in talent development, recruiting, benefits and compensation.

WCF also promoted Bill Riedley to senior vice president of small business and Nate Curtis to chief underwriting officer of small business.

Riedley has over 37 years of experience in the insurance industry. Before joining WCF in 2017, he served as the chief underwriting officer of commercial insurance for Farmers Insurance.

Curtis joined WCF in 2020 and has served as underwriting manager, director and vice president during his tenure.

Island Insurance, headquartered in Honolulu, appointed Mike Onofrietti as senior vice president, chief actuary and chief risk officer.

Debra Chong has been appointed vice president of business services, product and data management.

Onofrietti has more than 35 years of experience in the insurance industry, and has been with Island for more than 15 years.

Chong has more than 25 years of industry experience, including 18 years at Island Insurance.

Honolulu-based IC International appointed Nova Kim as vice president.

Kim has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry, most recently with Island Insurance as its agency partners program manager since 2010.