New Hires, Promotions at PCI, OneBeacon, Zurich, Lockton - Around the Industry

People and Places

Jeatran appointed to Children's board of directors: Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota has appointed Bill Jeatran to its board of directors.  Jeatran, CEO, RJF Agencies, has been recognized as one of the top entrepreneurs in Minnesota, and he brings a passion for corporate philanthropy to the Children's board. Jeatran has a first-hand appreciation of the role Children's plays in the lives of families.  The second of his three children was born with Strep B Meningitis, requiring extensive treatment at Children's. He says the experience gave him new perspective on what children and their parents go through when confronting disease and treatment.

Mahrt joins PCI as director of public affairs: The Property Casualty Insurers Assoc. of America (PCI) has named Nicole Mahrt as its new director, public affairs, and she will work in the Sacramento office of the Assn. of California Insurance Cos. (ACIC), PCI's California affiliate. Mahrt will be responsible for developing and managing public affairs activities for California, Hawaii, Nevada, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Utah. Mahrt brings extensive public affairs experience to PCI and ACIC. She mostly recently served as the public affairs director, western region, for the American Insurance Assoc.

Fisk-Bieker joins OneBeacon Technology as vice president: OneBeacon Technology Insurance appointed Mary Fisk-Bieker as vice president and Central and Eastern territories underwriting manager. Fisk-Bieker brings more than 25 years of insurance experience to OneBeacon, 23 years of which have focused on all lines of coverage for the technology industry. Prior to joining OneBeacon, she served as regional underwriting director at CNA.

Zurich appoints Hines head of geographic expansion: Zurich North America Commercial has appointed Kurt Hines to head of geographic expansion. In this new role, Hines will work closely with Zurich's regional executives and business units to coordinate growth in targeted areas. In the 15 years that Hines has been with Zurich, he has held numerous leadership roles, most recently as head of market management, customer industry segments, where he helped define and execute growth strategies. He has also held roles in Zurich's proposition development and construction segments.

Lockton appoints senior VP, sales execs: Doug Anderson has re-joined Lockton as senior vice president and producer in the insurance broker's property and casualty operation in Kansas City. Anderson will be responsible for new business development and advocacy for commercial insurance clients at Lockton. Anderson has been president of the Kansas City office of insurance broker IMA for the past 4 years. He had previously worked as a producer with Lockton for 18 years. The Denver Office of Lockton Cos. has expanded its team of sales executives with the addition of Sara Scott. Scott brings nearly 15 years of experience in the insurance industry to Lockton.  She spent 7 years with United Healthcare as senior vice president of sales for specialty products in key accounts, where she consistently led the company in sales, both as an individual contributor and as a sales leader. 

Great American promotes Liguzinski to divisional president: Great American Insurance Group announced that Michael G. Liguzinski will succeed John W. Sullivan as divisional president, specialty human services division, upon Sullivan's retirement in April 2011. Liguzinski joined Great American's specialty human services division in 1998. Since that time, he has had responsibility for the specialty human services Chicago branch office and played a key leadership role within the division, directing efforts such as strategic planning, the entry of specialty human services into Canada, and expanding product distribution and cross marketing efforts within the Great American Insurance Group of companies.

Sektnan promoted to ACIC president: The Assoc. of California Insurance Cos. (ACIC) announced that Mark Sektnan has been promoted to ACIC president, effective March 1. Sektnan joined ACIC in January 2009 and has led key advocacy efforts to address personal and commercial lines issues.  During his tenure with ACIC, he has managed the association's activities on legislative proposals related to auto repair and homeowner disclosure.  Sektnan continues to defend the historic workers' compensation reforms that have saved $50 billion for California employers.  Sektnan successfully directed ACIC-sponsored legislation which modernized electronic insurance transactions, thus giving consumers more user-friendly and time saving options.

Acadia promotes Swift to vice president: Acadia Insurance has promoted Dan Swift to vice president and general counsel. Swift has more than 15 years of experience in insurance and corporate law having previously worked in the legal department at another New England carrier as well as the Massachusetts and Maine Departments of Insurance. Swift began working with Acadia as a claim attorney in 2004.  Most recently, he has served as assistant vice president and assistant general counsel and has been handling a variety of legal matters across all functional departments of the company.

New firm launches operations in Florida:Connelly, Carlisle, Fields & Nichols launched operations this January, and offers insurance and risk management solutions to more than 6,000 individuals, families and commercial clients. The firm's corporate headquarters resides in Clearwater, Fla., and a client base that stretches from Florida to Maine and from the Carolinas to the Midwest. The firm excels in a broad range of traditional and innovative property, liability and employee benefit capabilities. John Connelly, the managing partner, has nearly 30 years of experience, and is one of the most well known and highly regarded insurance professionals in west-central Florida. His previous firm, Baldwin Connelly, grew in part by joining forces with top insurance professionals Pat Carlisle and John Fields, who founded Carlisle Fields & Co., and James Nichols, who founded Nichols Insurance Assocs. Inc. All four partners are shareholders in the new company.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Neace Lukens acquires Lent Agency: Neace Lukens has acquired the Lent Agency, a full-service insurance agency headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, offering commercial, surety bonding, construction and personal lines insurance. The merger added 12 Lent Agency employees, including four producers, to the Neace Lukens staff in the Dayton office. The office will be referred to as Lent-Neace Lukens during the transition. The combined operations will now include full risk management and employee benefits services. 

Assurex Global adds two firms to network: Assurex Global has added two new firms to their worldwide network: Continental Insurance Brokers Limited (CIB), and Daewoo INS Korea Corp. CIB augments its headquarters in Beijing with additional offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Kunming, Ningbo, Chongqing and Wuhan. Some of CIB's specialties include energy, marine, aviation & space, wind power, banking, fine art, engineering and credit insurance. aewoo has been a major Korean broker since 1999 and is headquartered in Seoul. It specializes in marine & aviation, property & treaty, engineering and casualty & specialty.

New Policies

K&K launches new products liability program: K&K Insurance introduces a new Products Liability Program in partnership with RLI. This program offers an additional avenue for competitive quotes in the sports, leisure and entertainment products liability marketplace. Targeted specialty markets include distributors, wholesalers and manufacturers of products for the following: 

• Motorsports vehicles, trailers, parts and equipment
• Collector cars, kit cars, street rods, go-karts
• Sports equipment
• Amusement industry rides and related products
• Exercise equipment
• Camping equipment (except for stoves and lanterns)
• Outfitter gear (except for weaponry and supplies)
• Boats and marine equipment (noncritical parts)
• Gymnastics and martial arts equipment

Burns & Wilcox offers PGI: Burns & Wilcox has been selected by Asterisk Financial Inc., the creator of Personal Guarantee Insurance (PGI), to be its first wholesale partner to offer PGI directly to brokers and agents.