People & Places

Tom Meyer joined Aspen Re's Specialty reinsurance team. Prior tojoining Aspen, he spent six years with Willis Re and four withAllianz in various broker and underwriting roles. He will maintainhis responsibilities for overseeing the Marine and Terrorismreinsurance business.

Willis NorthAmerica strengthened its brokerage operations in Columbus, Ohiowith a series of appointments: Jeff Orlando willassume the role of client advocate – human capital pratice and willbe responsible for development and expansion of Willis' outreach inthe employee benefits marketplace. Diane Snyderwas appointed client service team leader – human capital practiceand will oversee operations and client services functions inColumbus. Ellie Mast was appointed placement &finanical team leader – human capital practice. Prior to joiningWillis she served as a consultant for Mercer. JamieDunston was appointed claim consultant – strategicoutcomes practice and recently worked at DPDHL Global BusinessServices as senior claims adjuster.

Brenda Shelly, a veteran management liabilitybroker and underwriter, was promoted to the position of US D&Oliability product leader at Marsh. She will be responsible for developingand delivering technical expertise and content to Marsh clients andcolleagues.

NationAir Aviation added Jason Littleto its team of aviation insurance professionals as a salesexecutive. He will handle the company's agricultural and generalaviation insurance sales in the southeast.

Janet Vreeland was named vice president of newbusiness development and account leadership at Burnham Benefits Insurance Services. Her pastexperience includes more than 10 years at Aon Risk InsuranceServices, where she earned a rating of 100 percent clientsatisfaction through Aon's Client Net Promoter scoring system.

JLT SpecialtyLimited hired Penny Jepson to manage its newresidential real estate offering. The hire continues to build uponJLT's experience and expertise. Jepson was recently head ofbusiness at Deacon.

Steven Sternberg, senior vice president ofbusiness development for BankDirect Capital Finance, will bepresented PIANY's Industry Professional of the Year award at theannual Metropolitan Regional Awareness Program on January 31, 2013.The award recognized an individual who has demonstrated qualitiesthat foster a strong working relationship with agents and brokers,and who has exemplified a commitment to professionalism andservice.

Mergers & Acquisitions

USI Insurance Services acquired Welsch Flatness &Lutz. Inc and Construction Insurance Partners, two middle-marketbrokers based in St. Louis, Miss. The merger will enhancecross-selling opportunities for Welsch and Construction whileproviding them with national reach. USI will benefit by broadeningits suite of insurance solutions.

Houston International Insurance Group (HIIG)completed its acquisition of Axiom Insurance Managers. Axiomis headquartered in Chicago, Ill. and is an underwritingmanager specializing in the hospitality industry. Axiom willcontinue to underwrite on HIIG paper.

New Programs

Business Risk Partners (BRP) created atechnology E&O product with built-in data breach/privacycoverage for tech service providers. The target market includeswebsite designers, engineers, software developers and emerging techfirms. Small and Middle market companies nationwide can also optfor a stand-alone data breach/privacy coverage option. The policieswill be underwritten by Liberty International Underwriters andincludes:

• Legal liability (third party) and direct loss
• Cybercrime expenses
• Proactive loss mitigation services
• An innovative first responder concept.

All Risks introduced an ice rink product calledRinkPro. The program can be tailored to a variety of indoor andoutdoor facilities and includes rinks featuring restaurants/snackbars and equipment/sporting goods stores. Acceptable classesinclude rinnks with ice hockey, ice skating or figure skatingcamps, leagues and tournaments as well as non-ice sports. Coveragesinclude:

• GL
• Sexual abuse & molestation
• Liquor liability
• Property including building replacement costs, buried pipingand equipment breakdown
• Indoor/outdoor glass coverage
• Inland marine and pollution liability for ice resurfacingequipment
• Workers' comp
• Umbrella.

CFClaunched a fully combined modular policy, WEB, designed for onlineretailers. CFC believes this proposition is unique and comes at atime when online shopping continues to grow its market share at“unprecedented” rates. WEB will offer cyber exposures such asnetwork security, privacy, breach notification and cyber liabilityas well as cover for media and advertising exposures and amulti-media liability insuring clause.

News

Houston International Insurance Group (HIIG) announced areorganization of its domestic underwriting operation.The operation will be re-branded under the HIIG symbol, and thefollowing divisions were created in the hopes of betteridentifying specialty products offered:

• HIIG Construction
• HIIG Engery
• HIIG Professional
• HIIG Specialty.

The CPCU Society launched its new website and announced its newlogo, which can be viewed at www.cpcusociety.org. New websitefeatures and enhancements include:

• Streamlined navigational menus
• Content teasers to encourage engagement
• Enhanced search interface with filtering capabilities
• Community groups for each interest group
• “Share this” functionality.