New Hires and Promotions at Markel, National Life Group, CRC|Crump and AmWINS Group - Around the Industry

People & Places

Scott Whitehead was promoted to Markel Wholesale's product line leadership team as director of binding authority. Whitehead succeeds Evans Nash, who was named managing director of wholesale management.

National Life Group appointed John Blumberg general agent for a new agency in Westchester County, N.Y. Prior to his appointment, Blumberg represented Mass Mutual and Northwestern Mutual Insurance Cos. James Ortenzio was chosen as general manager of the company's New Jersey region. Ortenzio has previous experience with MetLife as a managing director. Julio Soria was appointed general manager of the company's South Florida agency. Soria has held leadership roles at New York Life, Prudential Financial Services and the MONY Group. Pam Blalock joined National Life's leadership team as vice president and regional development officer. Her focus will be on growth initiatives at multiple career agencies.

Delia Wright joined CRC|Crump's Dallas office as a property-casualty associate broker. Wright has previous experience with American Underwriting Managers, Swett & Crawford and Aon and will help CRC|Crump build its commercial lines department in Dallas.

AmWINS Group Inc. announced four hires. Brian Bartlett joined the brokerage as vice president. He has previously worked with Chartis, Turner Construction, Lockton Cos. and Marsh New York. Todd Fane joined WebTPA as vice president of sales. He comes to AmWINS from his role as director of IT at Truman Medical Center. Tom Martin also joined WebTPA as vice president and brings with him more than 20 years of experience in managed healthcare and insurance. Wayne Gutridge joined NEBCO and will lead the international benefits practice. Prior to AmWINS, Gutridge implemented successful programs for companies including Wells Fargo, Delta and the US Olympic committe.

New Programs

Asterisk Financial Inc. released its Personal Guarantee Insurance (PGI) in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. PGI coverage is the first of its kind–it protects business owners, partners and investors against personal asset losses that result from signing personal guarantees. The company is also experiencing record growth, marking a gross written premium increas of 300% since last year.

Ironshore will offer a customized Lawyers Management Liability Program through its Lloyd's Pembroke Syndicate 4000 in London. The program includes individual firm attorney coverage as a protection against risks related to insolvency.

QBE combined protections for business owners within a single product, FlexBiz. Product offerings include:

• Pricing flexibility
• Online rating system to avoid duplicated information
• No workers' comp payroll limitation

News

Markel FirstCorp announced the release of an enhanced independent agent portal and rebranded logo. The portal adds value by increasing efficiency, speed of quoting and ease of access to information that is integrated between carrier and producer. The rebranding reflects the unity between Markel Corp. and FirstCorp.

The Indiana Health Care Assn., HOPE and LeadingAge Assocs. chose Caitlin-Morgan Insurance Services' workers' comp solution for its current members. This allows members to receive benefits, including:

• Dividend payouts
• Customized loss prevention
• Lower claims costs
• Fast claims resolutions.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions integrated LexisNexis Insurance Exchange into its commercial insurance business. The new organization hopes to develop more holistic, innovative commercial insurance solutions.