People & Places

Dave Medvidofsky was elected as 2012-2013president of the CPCU Society at its annual meeting and seminarsin Washington, D.C. Medvidofsky serves as vice president and headof the internal audit unit at The Main Street America Group and has filledmany positions there during his 21-year tenure.

PIA assocs. ofNew York State, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Hampshire choseKelly K. Norris to fill the position of deputydirector. She has 20 years of industry experience and waspreviously executive director of the New York State Society ofProfessional Engineers Inc. and executive director of the New YorkState Consumer Finance Association.

Grange Insurance named Ken Linvice president, chief actuary. He succeeds CurtParker, who will remain senior advisor to the presidentand CEO until his retirement in February of 2013. Mr. Lin brings 15years of actuarial experience to the position, 7 of which he servedwith Grange after joining the company in 2005.

Julia R. Babbit was promoted to president ofHighmarkInsurance. She previously served as the agency's executive vicepresident and has helped the company strengthen its regionalinfluence on Florida's East Coast for the past 6 years.

Markel announced the apppiontment of JakeKouns to its Cyber Security Advisory Committee, whichmeets to research, study and make recommendations on assignedtechnology and security topics. Kouns is internationally knownas a leading expert in data breaches and has presented at securityconferences, written several books on the topic and holds a numberof industry certifications.

Mergers & Acquisitions

NationalFinancial Partners Corp. (NFP) acquired Lane McVicker(LMV), a provider of personal lines property-casualty insurance tohigh net worth clients. The transaction is consistent with NFP'sstrategy to grow its influence in the property-casualty businessand will allow LMV customers to benefit from enhanced quality anddiversity of services available nationwide.

New Programs

IronHealth launched two financial risk products aimedat healthcare organizations. Provider Excess Insurance (PEI) andHMO Reinsurance (HMORe) are the company's response to changes inthe healthcare sector as providers and HMOs assume additionalrisks.

Insurance Noodle, part of Willis North America,announced the availability of its immediate personal lines quotinghub. The hub allows insurance agents to login and complete anonline application to get real-time quotes for home and auto risksin 38 states. Agents can also use the hub to easily accesstheir Insurance Noodle book of business.

News

The Daniel and Henry Co. will open a Chicagooffice with the addition of veteran producers SteveLorenzini, Doug Marcheschi, BillDurkin, Michael Sobel, RichardBlumberg, Tim Lain, MarcAlberico, Jeffrey Oostema, MikeBlumberg and other professional staff members. The newoffice will deepen the resources and services available to clientsand strengthen the company's position in the industry marketplace.The Daniel and Henry Co. is headquartered in St. Louis, Miss.

Sterling & Sterling Inc. announced a jointventure with The Hyde Agency, to be called SterlingHyde Group. Theentity will use its combined experience of more than 170 years inthe surety and insurance businesses to oversee placement ofmulti-million dollar construction insurance and surety bondprograms to a wide array of domestic and international clients.

CloudInsure partnered with Guy Carpenter to offer privacy & securityliability coverage to anticipate and meet the needs of growingcloud computing space and technologies.