New Hires and Promotions at Zurich, SPARTA, Philadelphia and More - Around the Industry

People & Places

Anderson Kill & Olick P.C., a corporate law firm recognized for representing policyholders in insurance coverage disputes, will open an office in Burlington, Vt. Marshall Gilinsky will head the office and focus on insurance recovery on behalf of captive insurance firms in disputes with reinsurance providers.

Steve Rand was appointed head of customer, distribution and marketing for Zurich Global Corporate in North America (GCiNA). He will be responsible for all facets of GCiNA's distribution sales and marketing activities with global and national brokers, banks and emerging networks. Zurich also celebrated the recognition of Taffy Jo Mayers, who was named an honoree at the Womenetics 2013 Chicago POW! Awards. Along with 8 other women, Mayers was honored for forging a new path while inspiring other women who are at the forefront of a paradigm shift involving the increase in the number of women in the workforce.

Philadelphia Insurance Cos. (PHLY) promoted Brian O'Reilly from senior vice president of marketing to executive vice president and chief marketing officer. The company also hired Andrew Peel as senior vice president of IT and CIO. O'Reilly has been with Philadelphia for 22 years and previously served as regional vice president, growing PHLY's metro region from $95 million to $325 million in annual business. Peel brings experience building Fortune 500 firms and was previously a c-level executive and external consulting advisor. The company also promoted Dan Shea to senior vice president of marketing for its Eastern territory. Shea served as regional vice president of PHLY's Northeast region and succeeds Brian O'Reilly.

Jason Lake was hired as a loss control manager at American Equity Underwriters Inc. (AEU). He has training in on-site analysis, safety management and cargo handling as well as previous experience sailing with Maersk and Ocean Shipholding and a Bachelor's of Science in marine transportation from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

All Risks announced the promotion of Andrew Thompson to senior vice president for the company's brokerage in Atlanta, Ga. He has worked for All Risks for 11 years and specializes in complex and difficult-to-place commercial property and casualty risks throughout the U.S. Thompson previously worked in retail brokerage with both AON and Willis.

Greg Larson joined Marsh as head of its Dallas, Texas office. He will be responsible for delivering Marsh's advisory and transactional services to its clients in the region. He has 25 years of industry experience.

SPARTA welcomed a new CEO, Ralph E. Jones, III and a new president and COO, Brian D. First. Jones joined SPARTA as president in September 2012 after a successful career including positions with Chubb and Arch.

Jocelyn Rineer was chosen to fill the position of field sales manager for Consolidated Insurance Agents. She comes from E&K Agency Inc in Eatontown, N.J., where she served for 15 years as commercial lines marketing manager and placed a variety of commercial lines risks with standard and wholesale outlets.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Johnson McCann of St. Paul, Colo., C. O. Brown of Rochester and the Apollo Insurance Agency of St. Cloud have joined forces as a brokerage. All of the agencies offer commercial property-casualty, homeowners and auto insurance, group employee benefits and individual life and health insurance. Pat McCan will serve as president. The group will also offer:

• Full-service property and liability division connected with more than 50 insurance companies nationwide
• Expanded prevention of risk
• A health and wellness division
• An added risk and safety consultant
• More clout in the marketplace due to increase in size, which will result in lower costs for clients.