People & Places

Atlanta-based claims and risk managementcompany Crawford & Company named Larry C. Thomas its newestCEO of U.S. property and casualty. Thomasreplaces David Repinksi, who held theposition for the past two years, but will still act as chiefexecutive officer of Crawford's Contractor Connection unit.

CNA Financial Corp. appointed JeffZehr vice president of segment underwriting. Zehrhas more than 20 years of experience and started with CNA two yearsago as assistant vice president and underwriting segment leader forcommercial insurance.

Michael A. Fleischer hasjoined IFG Cos., a privately held insuranceP&C group, as its new executive vice president and chiefunderwriting officer. Prior to IFG, Fleischer held a number ofpositions at the Chubb Group of InsuranceCos.

York Risk Services Group, a national providerof alternative risk programs and claims management, hired insurance veteran SteveRodriguez as senior vice president. Rodriguez hasworked in leadership positions at many prominent insurers for thepast 25 years.

New Programs

Starr Cos. has designedand implemented a Commercial Insurance Umbrella policyspecifically for small businesses. The policy will provide limitsof up to $5 million, in $1 million increments.

M&A

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced its acquisitionof Cohen & Lord Insurance Brokers Ltd,and insurance broker based out of Ottawa, Ontario. Financialdetails of the acquisition were not released.

Both AXIS Capital'sand PartnerRe Ltd.'s boards ofdirectors unanimously approved a plan to combine the twocompanies in an $11 billion merger last week. AXISCapital's CEO, Albert A. Benchimol, willserve as CEO of the combined company.

Anbang Insurance Group, a China-based insurancegroup, has the green light from U.S. regulators to buy up theworld-famous Waldorf Astoria, located on ParkAvenue in Manhattan. Anbang's original propositionwas announced last October with a bid for thehotel at $1.95 billion.