People and Places

HiscoxBermuda named Bill Lazzaro as vice presidentof underwriting. Lazzaro joins from Aon Benfield, where he held avariety of roles over the last nine years.

Thomas M. Boudreau joins The Hartford as vice president ofconstruction insurance. Boudreau will address underwriting andsales for the construction sector, focusing on the needs ofmidsize and large construction companies. Prior to joining TheHartford, Boudreau worked for AIG.

Amerisafe, Inc. promoted G. JanelleFrost, currently the chief financial officer, to chiefoperating officer. Frost joined Amerisafe in 1992. Amerisafe alsohired Michael Grasher as chief financialofficer. Grasher previously worked at Fortegra FinancialCorporation. Amerisafe provides workers' compensationinsurance focused on small to mid-sized employers, primarily inconstruction, trucking, manufacturing and agriculture.

The AmericanInsurance Marketing & Sales (AIMS) Society recognizedBecky Lathrop, vice president at OptimumPerformance Solutions, as the first-ever CertifiedProfessional Insurance Agent (CPIA) Facilitator of the Year.AIMS recognized Lathrop's success in teaching CPIAeducation to independent agency and brokerages. In 2012, Lathroptaught seventeen CPIA classes in Florida, Nebraska andOregon.

Jamie Macgregor was appointed globalsenior vice president at Celent, a research and advisory firm, in its insurancepractice.

NormandyHarbor Insurance hired J. Ellen Huff as asenior field underwriter. Huff previously worked for BlueCross Blue Shield of Florida affiliate OptaComp, where she held asimilar position. Normandy Harbor specializes in workers'compensation insurance and offers plans to select Floridabusinesses.

Sue Federinko was promoted to senior vicepresident of Glatfelter Healthcare Practice. Federinko willmanage the hospice, home health, home aide, assisted living,skilled care and independent living books of business. She has beenwith Glatfelter Healthcare Practice for eleven years.

News

TheInsurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) has partneredwith Sesame Workshop, the education nonprofit behind SesameStreet, to launch an early literacy initiative for children. TheIICF has pledged $750,000 to Sesame Workshop over a period of threeyears, starting March 2013 through March 2016 to support thisinitiative. Read more here.

The RealTime/Download Campaign launched a survey to measure usage ofReal Time and download tools by independent agents and brokers. Thesurvey aims to measure progress in implementation and adoption ofagent-insurance carrier workflow technology. The survey invitesindependent agents and brokers to provide ideas on potentialchanges that could drive even greater agency usage of these tools.The survey is hosted at bit.ly/RT2013 and is estimated to take aboutseven minutes to complete.

New Programs

Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (PURE), apolicyholder-owned property/casualty insurer that caters to highnet worth individuals and families, will begin accepting newpolicyholders in Colorado in the wake of 2012 natural disasters inthe area, such as wildfires. PURE offers members a number ofproactive risk management services, including home risk appraisals,thermographic inspections and domestic employee backgroundchecks.

TheMechanic Group and Allied World U.S. have partnered to provide primaryand excess liability insurance products to private security,electronic security-alarm and investigation firms. This programcombines general and professional liability into one convenientpolicy form.