Hires and Promotions at Willis North America, Starr Cos., NIF Pacific and More - Around the Industry

People & Places

Willis North America announced several executive appointments to its New York office: Louise Pennington will serve as COO, where she will be responsible for driving the company's client advocacy model; Alexandra Littlejohn will take the position of regional placement officer, and will oversee $1.7 billion of premiums in the marketplace; Jill Sulkes recently took on the role of executive vice president in the New York office.

Vince Terlaje was named president of NIF Pacific. He succeeds Gordy Phelps, who will serve as managing director for NIF Pacific.

Starr Cos. selected Meredith Ryan-Reid to fill the role of North American leader for accident & health. She has more than 14 years of industry experience and will be responsible for overal growth, profitability, distribution and product offerincs for the division.

Brad Lew was chosen to fill the role of senior vice president of JLT Reinsurance's new West Coast office. He previously worked for Willis Re and has property-casualty and professional liability experience.

Guy Carpenter welcomed Peter Barr as senior vice president. The appointment is part of Guy Carpenter's plans to grow its regional reinsurance market expertise. Barr has more than 30 years of industry experience.  

Scott Bayer was hired as senior vice president of excess and surplus lines and Tony Angelo was promoted to regional vice president for Philadelphia Insurance Cos.'s Southeast Region. Bayer will define the company's presence in the non-admitted market, identifying profitable niches, providing additional product offerings and expanding distribution sources. Angelo built a $25 million book of business in 3 years after starting with Philadelphia's Alabama office in 2009.

The InVEST program awarded William “Bill” Allen Jr., a Travelers Select sales executive, with the Dach Award. The award honors an insurance industry volunteer who has made large contributions in fostering the growth and development of InVEST.  

Joe Zuk joined BMS Group as senior vice president for its reinsurance property-casualty team. He will focus on production of new reinsurance business in the property-casualty segment.

New Programs

Victor O. Schinnerer & Co. added a miscellaneous professional liability program, to be underwritten through ACE Commercial Risk Services. It will be available for small businesses with annual revenues of less than $5 million, including business consultants, human resource consultants, TPA's trustees, temporary staffing and home inspectors.

The Insurance Automation Group released version 5.0 of its iAutomate: Erlon Surety software. The software aims to reduce costs and the potential for error in developing and managing surety bonds. New features include:

• TAM interface
• Manage user lists option
• Multiple transaction codes.

Digital Insurance launched a private insurance exchange designed to address the needs of small- and medium-sized businesses. The exchange gives employers a defined contribution solution; all they need to do is designate the amount they want to contribute annually to each benefits package and arrange payroll deduction. Employers can also prioritize and customize their insurance needs by selecting coverage from an online marketplace.

OneBeacon Professional Insurance created a non-admitted lawyer's professional liability product for law firms in certain areas of practice. Features of the product include:

• Limits starting at $1 million and up to $5 million
• Disciplinary proceedings costs coverage at $25,000/$100,000
• Definition of professional legal services including lawyer, notary, arbitrator/mediator, court appointed fiduciary, lobbyist and trustee
• Business placed with a OneBeacon surplus lines underwriting company with A.M. Best “A” rating.

News

The Woodlands Financial Group (TWFG) has plans to expand with the addition of new branches located in California, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virigina. Many new branch managers will be former captive agents.

Mission Select Insurance Services was formed with the backing of K2 Insurance Services to provide an alternative for Texas independent insurance agents who sell residential property insurance in the state. The company will use proprietary software to enable agents to price and bind coverage quicklyand will underwrite businesses on behalf of financially sound insurers. The co-founders are Dave Lacefield, president, and Ashley Hunter, CFO.

Swett & Crawford established Ethos Underwriting Services, a medical stop loss MGU. It will be headed by industry veterans Paul Cromar and Mike McDonald. Together the pair has more than 45 years of industry experience. The MGU is a response to a growing number of companies with employees who self-fund their health benefits programs.