People & Places

Jamie Hopkins joined the faculty at The American College as an assistant professorof taxation. He will develop curricula associated with theCollege's new retirement income certified professionaldesignation.

Willis's agri-business division, Hughes-Gibb,appointed Dan Fairweather to head its expandingaquaculture insurance broking and risk management division. Theexpansion is in response to new studies showing decline inwild fish stocks is occuring faster than previously believed;more than half of all seafood consumed today is produced byaquaculture.

Mergers & Acqusitions

Markel Corp. entered into a definitiveagreement to acquire Essentia Insurance Co. from OneBeacon Insurance Group. Thetransaction is expected to be complete by January 2013.Essentia will continue to underwrite exclusively for HagertyInsurance Agency and Hagerty Classic Marien InsuranceAgency.

New Programs

AonRisk Solutions will distribute non-practicing entity patentlitigation insurance in partnership with RPX Corp. The program willhelp small- to medium-sized tech clients manage and minimizerisk and comes at a time when expenses related to patentinfringement lawsuits have tripled in size since 2005.

Enservio expanded its on-site inventory services to anationwide coverage. The change reflects full integration ofInsurer's World's Service On Site (SOS) content offerings. SOSbelieves its claims process has improved, leading to faster andmore accurate settlements. Other improvements include:

• Forensic reconstruction and public adjuster reconciliation ofloss
• Lock down of loss site to prevent further damage
• Guidance for representatives and adjusters on repairing andreplacing
• On-site product experts
• Shorter cycle times
• Empathetic customer service during traumatic periods.

ISO announcedrevisions to and introduced optional endorsments aspart of its Businessowners product (BOP) including thefollowing:

• Broadened debris removal coverage to include removal of debrisof the property of others and increase removal limit to$25,000
• Increased extended business income coverage to 60 days
• Introduced new coverage extension for business personalproperty temporarily stored in portable storage units
• Updated provisions to compliment ISO's commercial property andcommercial GL programs.

New Level Partners teamed up with ProjectConsumer Agent Portal (CAP) to build an online series forindependent agents and brokers. The Project CAP resource center isexpected to use interactive, narrated modules to assistagencies in educating staff about the basics of digitalmarketing, such as generating more online prospects andrevenue.

Affinity Healthcare programs are now providing serviceto insurance brokers nationwide. The programs serve:

• Physical therapy and rehabilitation centers
• Allied healthcare businesses
• Allied healthcare schools
• Aesthetic businesses
• Homes and services for the aging
• Orthotic and prosthetic suppliers and manufacturers andmore.