Wachovia Insurance Services Hires McDowell as COO

Wachovia Insurance Services announced today that it has hired Stewart McDowell as chief operating officer, responsible for managing the Property & Casualty and Benefits agencies. McDowell joins Wachovia from a 15-year career at Willis Group Holdings, the world’s third-largest insurance brokerage. He will work out of Wachovia’s Winston-Salem, N.C., office, where Wachovia is headquartered.

Reporting to McDowell will be the regional managing directors: Val Harwell, Florida; Tony Fenton, Northeast; Gene Link, Carolinas; and John Hamilton, Georgia. Additional reports will be Ken Shore, Integrated Marketing Solutions; Elizabeth Krystyn, Sales Integration; Todd Williams, Property & Casualty practice leader; and WIS managing directors, Cameron Harris and Lowry Baldwin.

McDowell joins Wachovia from Willis Group Holdings where he was a regional executive. His insurance career spans 26 years of sales and sales management experience at Chubb Insurance Group and Collier Cobb & Associates, which was acquired by Willis. McDowell holds a BBA from the University of Georgia and an MBA from New York University.

Wachovia Insurance Services ranks among the top 15 insurance brokers in the United States with year-end revenues of approximately $150 million. Wachovia Insurance Services and its affiliates have offices in states along the East Coast including Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Northern Virginia.