People

ReSource Pro, headquartered in New York City, appointed Su-Ting Fu as senior vice president, data strategy. Fu will lead the development and execution of the company’s enterprise-wide data strategy. Fu joins ReSource Pro from Morgan Stanley, where he most recently served as executive director in firm risk management.

Marsh named Chief Financial Officer Mark McGivney to the additional roles of executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Marsh also appointed Janelle Griffith as global logistics practice leader, Marsh Risk. In this newly created role, Griffith spearheads global logistics strategy. Based in New York, Griffith has nearly 20 years of experience, previously holding leadership roles at Kuehne + Nagel Inc. and Hapag-Lloyd AG.

Brooke Stringer joined The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers as vice president of government affairs. Stringer previously served a decade-long tenure at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Stringer joins the council from the Federal Insurance Office at the U.S. Treasury Department.

Audra Jackson has been promoted to vice president of government affairs.

Luca Vallada has been promoted to director of political affairs.

Bernadine Vassor joined the team as government affairs associate. Vassor is a former special advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, serving in the office of the general counsel and the office of the executive secretary.

Ascot appointed Kristyn Smallcombe as chief underwriting officer, Ascot U.S. Smallcombe joins from CRC Group, where she served as national casualty director for the company’s commercial solutions division. Smallcombe previously served at Argo Group U.S. as senior vice president and head of construction and held senior casualty and industry practice group leadership roles at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and AIG/Lexington.

Howden hired Patrick Thomas as Howden U.S. managing director within the company’s trucking specialty vertical. Thomas leads Howden’s U.S. trucking strategy, overseeing the continued build-out of a dedicated, nationwide trucking practice serving motor carriers, owner-operators, fleets and logistics providers. Thomas joins Howden with over 18 years of experience in the trucking and transportation sector.

Clyde and Co appointed Jeff Cottle as head of regulatory and investigations, white-collar crime and sanctions, Americas, and co-head of white-collar crime and sanctions, EMEA, marking the launch of a dedicated regulatory and investigations (RandI) capability in the Americas. Cottle joins Clyde and Co from Eversheds Sutherland, where he was co-head of the national security practice and global co-head of the industrials sector. He will be based in Clyde and Co’s Washington, D.C. office.

Scott Stephenson, former chairman, president, and CEO of Verisk Analytics, joined the board of directors at ZestyAI, a San Francisco, California-based risk and decision intelligence platform for the insurance industry. Stephenson spent more than two decades at Verisk, including nine as chairman, president, and CEO.

ReSource Pro appointed Michael Costonis as president of insurance business services. Costonis leads ReSource Pro’s efforts to bring AI into a unified operating layer. Costonis spent 26 years at Accenture, where he served as senior managing director and global insurance industry practice leader.

WTW appointed Haibin Li as director and data scientist within its pricing, product, claims and underwriting consulting team in North America. Li has 12 years of insurance carrier experience across data analytics roles at Everest, The Hartford and Chubb. Before joining the insurance industry, he spent 15 years in academia, holding positions at Rutgers University, Princeton University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Lawley, headquartered in Buffalo, New York, Hired Ryan Lynn Fisher as an employee benefits consultant in Buffalo and Carrie Street as a property and casualty insurance advisor in Rochester.

Fisher has over 25 years of experience across carriers, third-party administrators, and pharmacy benefit management, specializes in benefit planning, alternative funding solutions, pharmacy optimization, and long-term cost management. She previously served as a senior account executive at Independent Health.

Street specializes in insurance programs for manufacturing, construction, and non-profit sectors, as well as risk management, group captive, and alternative risk financing. Before joining Lawley, Street held roles at USI and Brown and Brown of New York Inc.

Patriot Growth Insurance Services, headquartered in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, hired Andrew Drayer as regional president, Northeast.

Drayer succeeds Bill Donato, who previously held this role and now serves as president of retail insurance. Drayer most recently served in a senior executive role at HUB International New England, where he led business and financial operations. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at MAPFRE Insurance and at Salem Five Bank.

SterlingRisk, headquartered in Woodbury, New York, promoted Marci Waterman, Esq., to deputy CEO and appointed John S. Beres as chief operating officer (COO).

Waterman joined SterlingRisk in 2013 and served as COO for nearly a decade. In addition to her newly elevated role, she will continue to serve as president of Sterling Analytics, which is owned by SterlingRisk.

Beres has over 40 years of senior-level experience, joining SterlingRisk in 2017 and most recently serving as chief business officer and director of client services and development.

Encova Insurance, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, hired Ben Nichols as regional vice president, Commercial Lines. Nichols oversees Encova’s Commercial Lines Large South region, serving agents across Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

His appointment follows the retirement of Len Hampton, who concluded his career with Encova at the end of March.

Nichols has over 30 years of insurance industry experience, spanning underwriting, field operations and agency development. Most recently, he served as a regional vice president at Amerisure.

Swingle Collins and Associates appointed Dan Curtis as CEO.

In conjunction with the appointment, Founder and CEO Frank Swingle will transition to the role of executive chairman, where he will continue to provide strategic guidance to the organization.

Curtis joined Swingle Collins one year ago as president. With over 30 years of experience spanning the logistics and financial sectors, Curtis previously served as COO of TriumphPay and as president and CEO of BNSF Logistics.

The Professional Insurance Agents of Arkansas (PIA Arkansas) announced that Executive Director Staci Shearon will retire effective May 29, concluding nearly 20 years of leadership and service to the association and the independent insurance community. During her tenure, she played a central role in strengthening the association’s presence across advocacy, education, and member engagement, helping position PIA Arkansas as a leading voice for independent agents in the state.

IMA appointed Al Caceres as senior vice president, national energy property leader. Caceres has over 20 years of underwriting and brokerage experience, serving at Everest Insurance, Marsh, Gallagher, GCube, AEGIS, Starr Technical Risks, and AIG.

Pekin Insurance hired John Colvert as vice president, sales and marketing. Colvert has over 20 years of leadership experience across property and casualty insurance and life and financial services. Colvert most recently served as regional vice president of commercial sales and underwriting at Utica National Insurance Group.

Mendy Friedman joined Alliant Insurance Services as first vice president within its employee benefits group. The Chicago, Illinois-based consultant will partner with a diverse portfolio of employers to design and implement data-driven health and welfare strategies. Before joining Alliant, Friedman was a senior principal with Mercer.

XPT Specialty hired Travis Hirschi as a producer and branch manager and Kristin Miller as an underwriter in its Salt Lake City, Utah, office.

Hirschi has over 20 years of insurance experience spanning both the retail and wholesale sides of the market, previously serving as regional director for Scottish American/Novatae Risk Group and as senior team leader at CRC Group.

Miller joins XPT with over 15 years of experience in property and casualty insurance. Most recently at CRC Group.

The Doctors Company, headquartered in Napa, California, made several leadership appointments.

Todd Zeiter has been promoted to chief underwriting officer. Zeiter most recently served as senior vice president of national underwriting.

Christian Groux has been promoted to interim Region III regional operating officer. Groux has over 30 years of medical professional liability experience and most recently served as vice president, business development, for Region III.

Lou Sicilian will transition to senior vice president, MPL business and financial strategy, from his current role as Region III regional operating officer.

Laura Archer will transition to vice president, underwriting strategy & transformation, from her current role as vice president of underwriting in Region III, supporting national underwriting.