People Moves: Branch Names Brizard CBO; Hagerty Adds Ignoto

Branch Names Brian Brizard Chief Business Officer

Branch, a full-stack insurance company, has hired Brian Brizard as chief business officer. As Branch continues its nationwide expansion, Brizard’s hiring marks a major investment to the commercial end of Branch’s business and partnership strategy.

Brizard is based in Detroit.

Brizard joins the team with more than two decades of mortgage expertise, making him a crucial asset to the Branch growth and partnership strategy, which already includes industry-leading lenders like Homepoint. Having previously held multiple executive roles at Homepoint, Brizard was part of the team that developed Homepoint’s path to an IPO in January 2021. Previously, Brizard founded Pioneer Mortgage, successfully navigating the company from a small mortgage broker to a thriving multi-state mortgage lender culminating in the sale of the business.

Hagerty Adds Daniel Ignoto as Senior Vice President of Strategic Insurance Partnerships

Traverse City, Michigan-based Hagerty has hired Daniel Ignoto as senior vice president of strategic insurance partnerships, reporting to Jack Butcher, president of insurance.

In this newly created role, Ignoto will be responsible for crafting consistent growth strategies for Hagerty’s largest insurance carrier partnerships and working with those partners in successful business planning and execution. Additionally, Daniel will lead Hagerty’s Canadian operations leveraging his recent product, underwriting and pricing expertise in the market.

Ignoto joins the team from an impressive career at Aviva Canada, where he spent the past 17 years in progressive leadership roles, including responsibility for the brand’s partnership with Hagerty. Most recently he served as Vice President of Specialty Personal Insurance where he was responsible for a large team and more than $1 billion in written premiums across three distinct businesses: group, lifestyle and high net worth.