People & Places

National

Tracy Ryan will join the Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE board of management as chief regions and markets officer for North America.

Based in New York, succeeds William (Bill) Scaldaferri who has decided to leave Allianz after 23 years, 11 of which were as a member of the board of management.

Ryan previously was at Liberty Mutual Insurance Group where she was a board member and president, Global Risk Solutions North America, having served in a variety of technical and leadership roles over nearly 30 years.

AXA XL Insurance continues to build out its U.S. Mid-Market business with the addition of Bennett Turner as head of strategy and operations and Christopher Fallon, head of analytics.

Turner joins AXA XL from Liberty Mutual, where he most recently served as a senior director for casualty and specialty lines analytics. He has nearly 20 years of extensive experience in the property/casualty and financial services industries.

Fallon also joins from Liberty Mutual, where he most recently served as a senior director for casualty and specialty lines analytics.

Turner and Fallon are based in Boston.

East

Wayne Gearhart has been promoted from vice president of claims to senior vice president and chief operating officer of Hartford Mutual Insurance Group, headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut.

Gearhart brings nearly 30 years of insurance industry experience to the new position. He joined Harford Mutual in 2019 as assistant vice president of claims and was promoted to vice president of claims in 2021.

Additionally, Geneau Thames has been promoted from assistant vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary to vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Thames has served as Harford Mutual’s in-house counsel since 2015.

The MEMIC Group, headquartered in Portland, Maine, hired Karen Kyer as a new senior production underwriter in the Mid-Atlantic region.

With more than 20 years of experience helping independent agents write monoline workers’ compensation policies in Virginia and Maryland, Kyler specializes in multiple product lines as an adviser to her agency partners.

Managing general agent GMI Insurance (GMI), headquartered in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, appointed Shawn Hall Sr. as chief operating officer and chief revenue officer.

Before Hall’s appointment at GMI, he served as senior vice president and managing director of workers’ compensation/regional vice president at Breckenridge Insurance.

Also, Kelly Kelly joins GMI as administrative manager.

Midwest

Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA) hired Brett Weis as personal lines coach. He will work with VIAA’s development team and coach new and existing team members on best practices for all property/casualty insurance issues.

Weis has worked in the insurance industry for nearly 10 years. Before joining VIAA, he served as a personal lines department manager at an independent insurance group serving doctors nationwide. VIAA is based in Clayton, Missouri.

Chicago-based Ryan Specialty promoted Michael VanAcker to executive vice president of RT Specialty, Ryan Specialty’s wholesale brokerage and binding authority specialty.

VanAcker has over 10 years of experience at Ryan as chief operating officer of Ryan Specialty and before that as RT Specialty’s chief operating officer and controller. He also served as director, FP&A, and manager in finance and accounting.

Frankenmuth Insurance Senior Vice President Phil McCain will retire on June 2 after 37 years of service and leadership.

McCain started at the Frankenmuth, Michigan-based company as a programmer in 1986. He serves as Frankenmuth’s ethics officer, is a member of the corporate executive committee and is responsible for disaster recovery and corporate planning. During McCain’s tenure, Frankenmuth Insurance integrated Patriot Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Frankenmuth Insurance, into its business processes.

Upon McCain’s retirement, Curtis Williams, director of technical services, will be promoted and appointed vice president of information technology.

J.M. Wilson, based in Portage, Michigan, hired Jennifer Mikos-Benavides as assistant transportation underwriter in its Arlington Heights, Illinois, office.

Mikos-Benavides is responsible for assisting underwriters with new and renewal commercial transportation accounts, as well as maintaining relationships with carriers and independent insurance agents in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

Prior to joining JM Wilson, Mikos-Benavides worked in banking and commercial loans for over 20 years.

Omaha National Group Inc. appointed Dale Mackel chief financial officer.

Mackel joins Omaha National after two years as executive vice president and chief financial officer and treasurer with LHC Group, a publicly traded home health and hospice provider based in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Bryan Connolly, who previously served as chief financial officer, has been promoted to chief operating officer.

South Central

Marine Underwriters of America, a DOXA Insurance company and underwriter of ocean marine, inland marine and related properties, hired Dustin Goodwin as head of the new marine claims program.

Marine Underwriters is headquartered in Conroe, Texas.

Goodwin brings over 27 years of experience in complex claims management, having held leadership positions at top companies in the industry, including senior director at Fidelis Claims Service and senior claims adjustor at CNA Ocean Marine.

Goosehead Insurance Inc. made several leadership promotions, including the appointment of Matthew Hunt as vice president, agency operations.

Hunt began his career with Goosehead in 2010 and has played an instrumental role in opening new markets across the country.

Goosehead, headquartered in West Lake, Texas, also promoted four new managing directors across various departments.

Chelsea Donner has been promoted to managing director of the service department.

Donner launched Goosehead’s San Antonio, Texas, service center in August 2021 and will now lead the San Antonio office. She began her career with Goosehead in 2017.

Dericka Marshall-Dillon has been promoted to managing director of human resources. Marshall-Dillon oversees both the HR and payroll departments. She joined Goosehead in 2013.

Johnny Preston has been promoted to managing director, human capital development. Preston is responsible for improving agent productivity across the company’s franchise and corporate channels. He has been with Goosehead since 2008.

Silver Burney has been promoted to managing director of corporate sales in Fort Worth, Texas. Burney will oversee Goosehead’s Fort Worth and San Antonio markets and will continue his role in recruiting, training and growth in both the corporate and franchise channels. He joined Goosehead in 2016.

Southeast

David Altmaier has moved from overseeing regulation of insurance companies to overseeing operations for one — the Bermuda-based reinsurer Aspen Insurance Holdings.

Altmaier, who was Florida’s insurance commissioner for six years until he stepped down in December, has been named to the reinsurer’s board of directors.

Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. houses a number of reinsurance and insurance subsidiaries with operations on four continents. These include Aspen Bermuda Ltd.; Peregrine Reinsurance Ltd.; Silverton Re; Aspen Re America; Aspen American Insurance Co., which offers medical malpractice, inland marine, and other property insurance; and Aspen Specialty Insurance Co.

McGriff, a subsidiary of Truist Insurance Holdings, hired Greg Draddy for its Carolinas specialty risk team.

The company said Charlotte is an emerging flagship operation and Draddy will help drive further growth in the region.

He has more than 20 years of experience in commercial insurance, including the last eight in Charlotte with global brokerage firms.

West

Venbrook Group LLC, based in Woodland Hills, California, promoted Brenda Sherman to executive vice president of business development and strategic alliances.

A Venbrook executive since 2015, Sherman has more than 30 years of industry experience across both the carrier and program administration sides.

In the newly created role, she will ramp up business development initiatives and work with agency partners to source alternative distribution channels.

Before joining Venbrook, Sherman held roles at AIG, Tokio Marine, Liberty Mutual, and others. She is based in Southern California.

PCF Insurance Services in Lehi, Utah, named Jenni Lee Crocker president.

Crocker was PCF’s senior vice president, growth and operations for the past year. She will remain on the board of directors at PCF after completing her two-year tenure as a board member.

Crocker has more than 27 years of experience. Before joining PCF in 2022, she spent more than 10 years at Marsh as managing director and corporate leader for the mid-Atlantic region and Virginia office head.

Leavitt Group in Cedar City, Utah named Kevin P. Grady as chief legal officer and Brooke L. MacNaughtan chief people and community officer, a newly created role.

Before joining Leavitt Group, Grady was vice president and deputy general counsel at Monat Global Corp.

MacNaughtan has been with Leavitt Group for 20 years, and she most recently served as VP of travel, meetings and incentives. Her new role encompasses employee experience and travel, meetings, incentive trips and recruiting client service staff.