People & Places

Matthew D. Nichols, president of All Risks,Ltd., was elected to serve as President of theNational Assn. of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO). Hejoined the board in 2005 and has held several positions on itincluding co-chair of the membership & ethics committee, chairof the international committee and part of the executivecommittee.

Aon Global Risk Consulting chose LizFrederick as head of its global insurance-linkedsecurities practice. She will focus on administration and advisoryservices for ILS products.

Beth Turbitt was hired by ReSource Intermediaries to fill the role ofsenior vice president. Turbitt has been a consulting borker out ofthe company's New York office for the past six months and has morethan 25 years of industry experience.

The TriCounty Independent Insurance Agents Assn. in Albertson,NY named Donna Doyle, an NBIC employee, Executive of the Year. She joinedNBIC in March of 2010 and was cited by the association for 25 yearsof outstanding service to the industry.

WorldwideFacilities chose Sylvia M. Arno to join itsIrvine, Calif. office as senior associate broker and marketingspecialist. She has worked as an insurance professional for morethan 27 years, including 2 years as an inside broker with R-TSpecialty Insurance Services.

Tom Schaffler was named president of Lockton's Chicago operation. He will beresponsible for setting the vision and long-term strategies for thebroker's risk management and employee benefits business. Hesucceeds Tom Pluss, who founded the office andserved as its president for the past 17 years.

NeaceLukens promoted Todd Stockdale to southernregion leader. He will oversee the growth and expansion of NeaceLukens' southern Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolinaoffices. He will also continue in his role as managing director forNeace Lukens' office in New Albany, Ind.

Mergers & Acquisitions

NeaceLukens purchased the assets of Lou Crawford & Associates Inc., including those ofDowning Insurance, an affiliate of Crawford. The two businesseswill continue to operate under their current names. Crawford islocated in Bellevue, Ky. and Downing is located in Maysville, Ky.AssuredPartners purchased Neace Lukens last year.

New Programs

Allied World U.S. formed a partnership with VentureUnderwriters to provide a GL program for commercialcontractors. The program is targeted to speciality tradecontractors and small general contractors in the Western U.S. andwill offer maximum limits of $1 million each occurance, $2 milliongeneral aggregate and $2 million products-completed operationshazard aggregate. National Claims Services Inc. will administer toclaims.

AonRisk Solutions will distribute non-practicing entity patentlitigation insurance from RPX Corp. in response to the patent riskgap. RPX research attributes the gap to the rising number of patentinfringement lawsuits filed by non-practicing entities, referred toas NPEs. The total cost for responding to NPE litigation in 2011was $29 billion, according to a recent Boston University School ofLaw study.

News

Ebix announced a partnership with Silanis in which itwill first integrate Silanis' e-signature solution into a newbusiness application process within EbixExchange CRM and thenexpland the offering to its other platforms. Subscribers will beable to complete annuity and insurance new business immediatelyinstead of waiting for a paper signature from the policy holder.The partnership reflects global demand for improved, streamlinedcustomer experience and the transition to e-signatures within theindustry.