People & Places

National

Miller, an independent specialist re/insurance broker, expanded its U.S. Casualty team, appointing Galen Brislane and Danielle Thorsteinson as account executives.

Brislane is based in Bermuda and Thorsteinson is based in Miller’s London office. Both report to Mark West, head of U.S. Casualty.

Brislane has more than 30 years’ experience working in London and Bermuda, focusing on large and complex casualty clients. He has broad experience across insurance, reinsurance, and captive management. Most recently, he worked as executive vice president, US Casualty, at Prices Forbes (Bermuda), he has also held senior producing roles at Aon and JLT.

Thorsteinson brings over 17 years of wholesale and retail casualty experience. Prior to joining Miller, she was a director in Price Forbes’ London Construction team. She has also held roles at Aon, RT Specialty and Worldwide Facilities Inc.

Embroker promoted Ben Jennings, the company’s chief revenue officer for the last four years, to chief executive officer.

Founding CEO Matt Miller stepped down at the end of January following a leave of absence for health reasons.

Jennings will continue overseeing ONE by Embroker, launched in January as a unique single destination that uses technology and AI to combine industry-specific product suites based on a business’s individual risk profile and coverage needs.

Marsh appointed Pat Donnelly, president, Marsh Specialty and Global Placement. He is based in Chicago.

Donnelly has been president of Marsh’s U.S. business since the start of 2022. Prior to that, he was head of Marsh Specialty for Marsh U.S. and Canada since 2019 when JLT was acquired by Marsh.

Lucy Clarke, who also came over in the merger, had been president, Marsh Specialty and Global Placement.

In his new role, Donnelly will oversee Marsh Specialty’s global business, which includes the specialties of aviation, construction, credit specialties, energy and power, financial and professional lines (FINPRO), marine and cargo, and private equities, mergers and acquisitions (PEMA). His responsibilities also include Marsh’s global placement capabilities, with responsibility for all retail and international placement hubs, portfolio solutions and insurer consulting, climate and sustainability, captive solutions, and claims.

Michelle Sartain will move up to Donnelly’s prior role as president of Marsh US.

Sartain, previously head of Marsh Specialty for the U.S. and Canada, will oversee Marsh’s insurance brokerage and risk advisory businesses across the country. Sartain is based in New York.

Axis hired Andy Shaw as its new specialty team leader for North American Programs.

Shaw joins Axis from Nationwide, where he most recently was vice president for property/casualty program, casualty and ocean marine.

With Axis in this newly created role, Shaw will help shape the overall direction of the company’s specialty programs portfolio business and establish underwriting, pricing, portfolio modeling standards and governance for its MGA and MGU partners, as well as manage program authority. He is based in Phoenix.

Victor appointed Ashleigh Cashman president of International Catastrophe Insurance Managers LLC (ICAT), its U.S. property catastrophe managing general agency.

Cashman joined ICAT in 2003 and was named chief underwriting officer in 2018. She took over the leadership of ICAT on an interim basis in December 2022. She will also remain in her role as chief underwriting officer of ICAT.

East

AXA XL Insurance appointed Adele Smith as head of Mid-Market Generalist in the next phase of its targeted U.S. Mid-Market insurance business launch.

Based in New York, Smith will build the underwriting unit providing multi-line property/casualty insurance for mid-sized generalist business in the U.S.

Smith joins AXA XL from CNA where she managed a $500 million P&L for mid-market business out of New York. She has been in the mid-market business throughout her career with experience at both The Hartford and Crum & Foster.

Midwest

Ron Keller has been named senior lead underwriter, E&S Casualty, at Ascot Group U.S.

Keller is based in Ascot’s Chicago office and is responsible for the central region. Keller has 25 years of experience on the brokerage side, most notably at One80 Intermediaries and recently in the brokerage casualty division at IFG Companies, aka Burlington Insurance Co.

Ascot Group U.S. is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

DOXA Insurance Holdings, headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, welcomed two new team members — Liz Coakley and Caitlin Murphy.

Coakley and Murphy, senior-level underwriters with over 15 years of experience in the commercial excess and surplus (E&S) property insurance space, will lead DOXA’s property program facility.

Coakley will serve as president of the new organization. She previously served in several leadership positions at Lexington Insurance Co., most recently as senior regional manager. Before that, she served as regional vice president at XL Catlin.

Murphy will serve as underwriting director. She previously worked at Lexington Insurance Co., most recently as regional underwriting manager. Before that, she served as regional vice president at XL Catlin.

Pinnacle Actuarial Resources Inc., based in Bloomington, Illinois, hired Michael K. Chen as a senior consulting actuary.

Chen has 20 years of actuarial experience and is returning to Pinnacle. His previous roles include commercial pricing actuary for FBL Financial Group and actuarial analyst for American Republic Insurance Co.

Chen is based in Des Moines, Iowa.

Atain Insurance Companies in Farmington Hills, Michigan, hired Barb Habel as vice president and head of excess casualty.

Habel is based in Phoenix, Arizona., and has more than 15 years of industry experience.

Before joining Atain, Habel was an executive underwriter at HDI Global Specialty and served for seven years at Core Specialty and Starstone. Before joining the carrier side, she worked for RT Specialty and CRC in Chicago.

South Central

Watkins Insurance Group, headquartered in Austin, Texas, hired H. Lee Loftis as director of sales and carrier relations.

Loftis has over 45 years of insurance industry experience, most recently serving as chief legislative officer for the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas, advocating for independent agencies in the state legislature.

The Insurance Professionals of Greater New Orleans (TIPOGNO) installed the 2023-2024 Officers and Board of Directors at its 80th Annual Installation Dinner in June.

TIPOGNO elected Brittany Schule Orlando, general manager for First Onsite, in New Orleans, to serve as president. Orlando has been in the insurance industry since 2018, serving in the property restoration industry. A dedicated member of TIPOGNO, she has assisted in many aspects of the organization.

Other newly named leaders include President-Elect Casey Darden, Peachtree Special Risk Brokers; Vice President Stacey Campo, The Hartford Insurance Group; Secretary Tiffany Forest, Forest Insurance Facilities; Treasurer Heidi Thrash, Paulin & Associates; and Immediate Past President Katie Liljeberg, Dave Millet Insurance Agency.

Named to the board of directors are Debbie Lee, LAMMICO; Chad Harrington, Hull and Co.; and Shaunte LeGuin, Strategic Comp.

Southeast

The national insurance broker McGriff named Jimmy Conroy vice president and marketing account executive for its Birmingham-based energy practice.

Conroy joins McGriff with almost 10 years in insurance, focused on renewable energy. Recently, he was vice president for a managing general underwriter in the clean tech space.

McGriff is a subsidiary of Truist Insurance Holdings.

The Latin American Association of Insurance Agents elected a new board of directors for the term that lasts through 2025.

At its 53rd annual convention held in Hollywood, Florida, the association named Juan Carlos Diaz-Padron, vice president at Miami-based GIC Underwriters, as national president.

He succeeds Javier Naranjo, CEO of Everisk Insurance Programs.

Diaz-Padron joined GIC in 2009 and has more than a decade of experience in wholesale business operations, including program development, underwriting, strategic planning, and procedural oversight.

He previously served as president for the South Florida CPCU Society Chapter. He is the former chairman of the Insurance and Risk Management Advisory Board for the city of Coral Gables, Florida.

Other new board members include Vice President Al Mendez, Mendez Insurance; Treasurer Hector Trujillo, Arena Insurance Agency; Secretary Allison Kallman, Marshall & Sterling of Florida; Director David Hand, Pini Insurance; Director Barry Sanders, Knight Insurance; Director Shelby Morena, Wright Flood; Director Rudy Valdes Diaz, Hull and Co.; Director Maria Fisk, International Insurance Center; and Director Jason Grodensky, Greenshield Risk Solutions.

The Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies was founded in 1969.

West

SAIF, Oregon’s not-for-profit workers’ comp insurance company, headquartered in Salem, named Olivia Keefer as its new chief actuarial officer.

Keefer previously served as actuarial director. In her new role, she manages the reserves process, oversees ratemaking and the rate filing process, maintains the economic capital model and makes recommendations to the CFO, executive team and board on surplus levels.

Talage Inc., headquartered in Reno, Nevada, appointed Craig Fuher as its new CEO.

Fuher is also a founder at Affective Business Intelligence Corp.

Company co-founder Adam Kiefer will transition to the newly created founder and executive chairman role.

Kiefer co-founded Talage Inc. in 2015 and has been its CEO since its inception. He has also served as a cohort member at BrokerTech Ventures and Forum Ventures and as vice president, business banking relationship manager at Nevada State Bank.

Topics Florida New York