People & Places

National

Longwood, Florida-based Insurance Office of America (IOA) appointed Jeff Lagos as CEO and Rob Motley as president in addition to their continuing roles on the IOA board of directors.

Lagos has been president since 2003 of IOA; he joined the independent, privately owned insurance brokerage in 2000.

Motley is also an IOA vet, having joined in 2003, getting appointed to the board in 2008. In 2013, he was named a region president, and in 2022 he was named East Coast division president.

Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance appointed Paul Larson president, financial lines for its Global Risk Solutions (GRS) North America division.

Before joining Liberty Mutual, Larson led financial lines at CNA Financial and served as executive vice president, North America commercial insurance at Chubb.

Markel Corp. named Teri Gendron chief financial officer effective March 20, 2023, succeeding Jeremy Noble, who became president of Markel’s insurance operations earlier this year.

Most recently, Gendron was CFO of Jefferies Financial Group Inc., and she has also held senior finance positions at Gannett Co. and NII Holdings.

Danielle Chaplick joined Risk Strategies Consulting as managing director.

Before joining Risk Strategies Consulting, Chaplick served as vice president and northeast regional director – public sector for Gallagher Benefit Services.

Chaplick has also worked in employee health and benefits at Marsh & McLennan Agency in addition to roles in government healthcare administration, program development and product management.

Risk Strategies is based in Boston.

RYZE Claim Solutions promoted Alisshia Isaacs to executive vice president/chief people officer.

Isaacs joined RYZE in 2021 as senior vice president of human resources. In her new role, Isaacs continues to oversee human resources and joins the company’s senior leadership team.

Teresa Beavers has been promoted to vice president of client solutions at RYZE.

Beavers, who has 33 years of experience in the claims industry, joined RYZE in 2001 as a file reviewer. Most recently, Beavers served as the company’s associate vice president of client services.

Ryze has headquarters offices in Tampa, Florida, and Noblesville, Indiana.

QBE North America, based in New York, New York, announced two key executive appointments.

Rachel Pollack has been appointed chief people officer.

Pollack joined QBE in 2008 and has held various roles in change management, human resources (now people), culture and business transformation, most recently serving as group people director, global corporate functions, and before that, group head of enterprise culture. Pollack also served as vice president, head of HR change North America in 2014 and 2015.

David Mulligan has been named chief operating officer.

Mulligan leads QBE NA’s business delivery teams, including digital transformation, business process reengineering, automation and robotics and the offshore transition team. He also oversees underwriting operations, program onboarding and services, billing, collections, accounts payable, production automation support, procurement and real estate.

East

Jane Callanan has been appointed general counsel at the Connecticut Insurance Department.

Callanan previously was in private practice with Willkie Farr & Gallagher as special insurance counsel, representing insurtech companies and other insurance licensees. She started her career in the insurance industry in 1995 with the Connecticut department as a staff attorney providing legal counsel in financial regulation and consumer affairs.

Callanan also previously worked at The Hartford.

The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. appointed Kate B. Williams as president of excess and surplus (E&S). Williams will oversee the Worcester,

Massachusetts-based company’s full range of E&S for the property/casualty needs of small to mid-size customers.

Williams has nearly 21 years of experience, having served in a variety of underwriting and producer roles at James River Insurance Co., Chas. Lunsford Sons & Associates and Colony Insurance Co. Most recently, Williams spent 12 years at Markel as managing director and product line leader of Markel’s primary casualty portfolio.

Midwest

Alera Group appointed Richard “Ricky” Levitz as Midwest regional managing director. Levitz will work with 16 offices throughout Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

Levitz has held several senior leadership roles within Alera Group and Alera Group Midwest (formerly GCG Financial), including 30 years at GCG with the last six years as managing partner.

Alera Group is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.

South Central

Workers’ compensation insurance provider, Texas Mutual Insurance Co. named longtime employee and chief operating officer Jeanette Ward president and chief executive officer by a unanimous board vote.

Ward joined Austin, Texas-based Texas Mutual in 1993. In her 29 years with the company, she has served in various roles across the organization, beginning as a receptionist.

Ward assumed her new role on March 1, following the retirement of Rich Gergasko, who has served as president and chief executive officer for the last 10 years.

Ashley Scott has been named director of the Oklahoma Insurance Department Pharmacy Benefit Manager Compliance and Enforcement Division.

Scott has been with the department since 2020 and serves as the agency’s government and community affairs director. She has over 15 years of state service focused on policy development and implementation.

Molly Clinkscales was appointed as lead attorney for the program. Clinkscales joined the legal team of OID as an assistant general counsel in 2021 with the primary focus areas of life and health insurance, including PBM regulation.

Southeast

Kids’ Chance, a charity organization established by the workers’ compensation industry, has named new board members for its Florida operation.

Bill Rogner, a workers’ compensation defense and appellate attorney, was named president. Kimberly Helwig, the strategy and risk management director of the National Council on Compensation Insurance, was named vice president. Tammy Boyd, an industry veteran and advisor to Rehabilitation Advisors, is treasurer. David Langham, deputy chief judge who oversees the Florida Office of Judges of Compensation Claims, is secretary.

The all-volunteer Kids’ Chance of Florida provides scholarships to educate children of workers who have been killed or seriously injured in work-related accidents.

Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. named Tim Cerio to replace longtime CEO and director Barry Gilway, who announced his retirement in December

Cerio, who has served as Citizens’ general counsel for a few years, was named the corporation’s interim CEO in December.

Cerio has been practicing law for more than 25 years. He served as general counsel to Rick Scott in 2015 and 2016, when Scott was governor of Florida. Cerio serves on the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission and is a member of the board of governors of the State University System of Florida.

Citizens was created by the Legislature 21 years ago to serve as an insurer of last resort.

Cerio’s appointment will be reviewed by the Florida Senate.

Brendan Swift has been named vice president for payer partnerships and marketing with ATF Medical, a national provider of rehabilitation equipment and housing solutions for the workers’ compensation industry.

ATF, also known as After

The Fall Inc., supplies mobility and accessibility solutions for payers and injured workers. It is based in Newman, Georgia.

Swift started his career in group health with Oxford, United Healthcare, and Coventry. Most recently, he was with Elevance Health, formerly Anthem Inc.

The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance named Mark Wiedeman, a Utah native, as director of its captive insurance section.

Wiedeman joined the Utah Insurance Department in 2012 as an auditor, then was senior examiner and assistant division director. He left the department in 2022 to start a business in contract insurance examinations and captive insurance consulting.

West

The California Insurance Wholesalers Association named four new members of the board of directors and promoted two current members to top leadership roles.

John Donahue, president of M.J. Hall & Co., was promoted to president. Yana Connors, principal at Ck Specialty, was promoted to vice president. Garett Kaneko, executive vice president of client relationship management at Amwins, was appointed treasurer. Sarah Sloan, senior vice president of commercial at Atlas General Insurance Services, an RPS company, is secretary.

The association also added two new board members: Mike Louderback, second vice president of sales and marketing at USLI; and Zach Hernandez, assistant vice president at XPT Specialty, who is also a committee chair for CIWA Future.

CIWA is a nonprofit trade association supporting California excess and surplus insurance wholesalers, carriers and supporting entities.

Aura Risk Management & Insurance Services, a member of The Liberty Company Network of Insurance Brokers, added Eric Morrison as senior vice president. Morrison will lead efforts to develop Aura’s new cannabis program, as well as other specialized, niche programs.

Morrison began his career in 1998 in underwriting employee benefits and moved to the property/casualty space in 2003. He has 20 years of experience in the P/C and workers’ compensation arena. Morrison has primarily focused on managing and producing underwriting profits in specialized, hard-to-place property/casualty, workers’ comp and excess markets.

Aura is headquartered in San Clemente, California.