People Moves: Fortegra, Alabama DOI Put New Faces in Key Roles

Fortegra Group, the Jacksonville-based parent company of specialty insurers, named Anthony Katz, a longtime actuary, as senior vice president for reserving.

Katz will lead Fortegra’s team of actuaries, overseeing reserving, credit insurance, statistical reporting and compliance with the new IFRS 17 accounting standard, the company said. The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation developed the rule to standardize how insurers measure and disclose obligations, replacing a patchwork of state-based accounting measures.

Katz has 30 years of experience in the actuarial space, including time with ToaRe, EverestRe, Arch Insurance, Ernst & Young and ACE. He recently has been a consulting actuary.

The announcement came two weeks after Fortegra named Mark Rattner president. Rattner has been with the global insurer since 2016, serving as executive vice president and chief underwriting officer.

Fortegra recently completed its acquisition by South Korea’s DB Insurance Co., the largest acquisition of a non-life insurer in the U.S. by a Korean firm.

Meanwhile, the Alabama Department of Insurance has completed a restructuring of the department, with new faces in key positions, including new deputy commissioners.

The department announced in May that Todrick Burks had been promoted to deputy commissioner. He joined DOI in 2005 as an examiner and most recently was premium tax administrator, overseeing the single largest source of revenue for the state’s general fund, DOI said in a news release. Burks will now oversee external affairs and actuarial services.

This week, Insurance Commissioner Mark Fowler said Larry Chapman is the new chief deputy commissioner, overseeing administration, human resources and government relations, while providing direction to deputy commissioners. Chapman, a former Alfa Insurance agent, was named a deputy commissioner in 2023, filling the fill the spot left vacant by Fowler, who was named commissioner after longtime department head Jim Ridling retired in July 2022. Last year, Chapman was named chief of staff.

Others given new roles include:

• Richard Fiore was promoted to deputy commissioner for accountability, innovation and resilience. He will oversee information technology, accounting divisions and the Office of Risk and Resilience. Last year, Fiore was tapped to manage innovation, operations, accounting and the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning at the DOI.
• Dusty Smith, deputy commissioner for regulatory operations, will oversee rates and forms, consumer services and the pharmacy benefits manager compliance divisions.
• Reyn Norman, general counsel, will oversee the Legal, Receivership and the Producer Licensing Divisions.
• Sheila Travis, chief examiner, will continue to oversee the examination division.