People & Places
Zurich North America, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, promoted Chris Nolan to head of surety in U.S. national accounts.
Nolan, who is based in New Jersey, succeeds Bob Murray, who retired in June. Nolan now oversees both contract and commercial surety. He previously was head of large contract surety at Zurich.
Everest Insurance, the insurance division of Everest Group Ltd., headquartered in Warren, New Jersey, named Brian Zink senior vice president and head of Everest Specialty Underwriters (ESU) and U.S. Financial Lines.
Zink joins Everest from Zurich where he was head of financial lines for the company’s U.S. national accounts.
Rokstone, part of the Aventum Group, appointed Laurence (Larry) Burrows as head of a new U.S. Excess Casualty division.
Burrows has over 15 years of experience specializing in U.S. casualty.
Canopius, based in Chicago, appointed Steve Mills as head of casualty in the United States.
Mills, based in Atlanta, has over 30 years of industry experience. He most recently served as president of excess and surplus (E&S) at MGA start-up Ledgebrook.
Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, hired Peter Miraglia as executive vice president, Alliant Specialty, within the company’s mergers and acquisitions vertical.
Based in New York, Miraglia brings over three decades of insurance industry experience with specialized expertise in private equity transactions.
Alliant also hired Mark Rusas as executive vice president and managing director of Alliant Specialty within the company’s mergers and acquisitions vertical. Rusas has over 30 years of industry experience. He is based in New York,
Hiscox appointed Mike Maletsky vice president, practice leader – technology E&O and cyber.
Maletsky brings over 18 years of industry experience to his role, most recently serving as assistant vice president, digital products, at Embroker.
Houston-based Skyward Specialty Insurance Group Inc. named four new regional vice presidents and two new underwriters.
Skyward Specialty named Gregg Callahan regional vice president in its northeast region in New England. Callahan spent the last 27 years at Liberty Mutual Insurance, specializing in contract surety.
The company named Larry Mastalski as regional vice president in the Texas and Midwest territories. With over 33 years of specialized surety expertise, Mastalski joins from Markel, where he served as vice president branch manager.
Sam Allison joined Skyward Specialty as assistant regional vice president in Texas. Allison has 21 years of experience in the Texas surety market, most recently serving as regional bond manager for Main Street America Group.
Sean Fallows was hired as regional assistant vice president in the Pacific Northwest region. Fallows has over 18 years of specialized surety expertise, most recently serving as Pacific Northwest branch manager for Intact Insurance Specialty Solutions.
Joe Waynauskas, a 22-year surety veteran, joins Skyward Specialty as senior underwriter in the North Central region.
Joe Michalewsky joins the Northeast region as an underwriter, following two years of surety experience at Sompo International.
Risk Strategies, headquartered in Boston, appointed Bradford Leung as senior vice president in its private equity practice.
Leung brings over two decades of private equity and mergers and acquisitions expertise. He previously served as head of analytics and as a project manager at Willis of New York.
Effective January 1, 2025, Falvey Insurance Group CEO Mike Falvey will transition to executive chairman.
Falvey founded the North Kingstown, Rhode Island-based company in 1995 with just two employees.
Moving into the CEO position will be Jack Falvey, who is currently the group’s chief operating officer.
Lawley, headquartered in Buffalo, New York, named Phil Scaffidi as employee benefits consultant in Buffalo; Joe Moran as an insurance advisor in Florham Park, New Jersey; and Carl Belizaire as insurance advisor in Buffalo.
Before Lawley, Scaffidi served as senior enterprise account manager at Kangarootime software company and operations manager at Modern Disposal Services Inc.
With nearly a decade of experience, Moran most recently served as vice president of property/casualty at USI Insurance Services.
Belizaire will transition from a Lawley surety specialist to an insurance advisor serving the Buffalo community. Before joining Lawley, Belizaire was an adjunct mathematics professor at Baruch College.
Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, hired Anthony DiPhilippo as vice president, employee benefits, health and welfare consultant within its employee benefits group, serving the Northeast.
DiPhilippo most recently served as an employee benefits account executive at Cross Insurance and previously worked in financial services at Prudential Financial.
Alliant also hired Todd Cormier as senior vice president within the Alliant Americas division.
Based in Boston, Cormier has spent more than two decades in the industry, most recently serving as vice president at HUB International.
Aon plc named Nick Nudo as senior managing director of reinsurance for Chicago.
Based in Chicago, Nudo most recently served as chief underwriting officer of reinsurer SCOR’s U.S. operations.
Powers Insurance & Risk Management, headquartered in St. Louis, promoted Rachel Winkelmann to commercial lines account executive and trainer.
Winkelmann previously served as a commercial lines account manager at Powers.
Property/casualty insurer NI Holdings Inc., headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, named Cindy L. Launer as interim CEO.
Michael J. Alexander has stepped down from his role as president and CEO, and board member of the company.
Launer has served as an independent non-executive director on NI Holdings’ board since November 2019 and brings 18 years of experience in the insurance industry.
FTI Consulting Inc., headquartered in Washington, appointed Thomas Thompson as a senior managing director in Houston.
Thompson has more than three decades of experience in the construction and engineering industries. Before joining FTI, he was a managing director at Ankura.
Alliant Insurance Services named Alliant Specialty Senior Vice President Orlando Aguirre to lead its newly launched Alliant Commercial Surety group.
Based in Houston, Aguirre joined Alliant as senior vice president in 2021 and has experience in the energy, healthcare, and commercial surety industries.
Paula Cooley joined Graham-Rogers Insurance, headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, as a transportation new business underwriter.
Cooley has over 40 years of property/casualty experience, most recently serving as senior transportation/garage underwriter at Risk Placement Services Inc.
Graham-Rogers Insurance is a member of Bridge Specialty Group and a division of Brown & Brown Insurance.
Hub International Ltd., the global insurance broker, named Tim Smith president and CEO of its operations in the Carolinas.
Smith was previously the chief sales officer at Hub International Carolinas and was a Charlotte-area market leader.
Embroker, headquartered in San Francisco, appointed Andrew (Andy) Lea chief insurance officer and promoted Kristy Malm to chief operating officer.
Lea has more than two decades of insurance experience. He most recently served as chief underwriting officer at Vantage Risk.
Malm previously served as vice president of operations at Embroker. She also has served as COO at HearMe, COO and chief financial officer at Ennabl, and national director of operations at Marsh & McLennan Agency.
Ryan Specialty, headquartered in Chicago, promoted Jason Lentz to president of RT Specialty High Net Worth, RT Specialty’s national high net worth personal lines practice.
Lentz is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has nearly two decades of experience in the insurance industry and most recently served as Ryan’s national practice leader, private client group, and as senior vice president of personal lines.
The Liberty Company named Erin Gaston managing director, entertainment, and Alex Johnson vice president and producer.
Gaston, who is based in California, previously served as managing director at Momentous Insurance Brokerage, a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC.
Based in California, Johnson previously served as senior advisor, commercial risk at Burnham WGB Insurance Solutions.
The Liberty Company is headquartered in Gainesville, Florida.