Business Moves

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AXIS Capital, Aon Media/Pro

AXIS Capital, a global specialty commercial property/casualty insurer and reinsurer, agreed to acquire the assets and operations of Media/Professional Insurance (Media/Pro), a managing general underwriter specializing in professional liability lines, from Aon Underwriting Managers.

Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., Media/Pro has operations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Professional liability lines written by Media/Pro include media liability insurance, cyber-technology insurance and miscellaneous professional liability insurance.

Media/Pro will become part of the newly established AXIS Select Markets division of AXIS Insurance upon the close of the transaction, which is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2007, pending the satisfaction of closing conditions.

John Charman, CEO and president of AXIS Capital, noted that for the past two years, AXIS has served as the exclusive carrier for several Media/Pro errors and omissions liability programs.

AXIS Capital is a Bermuda-based global provider of specialty lines insurance and treaty reinsurance with shareholders’ equity at Dec. 31, 2006 of $4.4 billion. It has locations in Bermuda, United States, Europe and Singapore.

Alliance of Insurance Agents and Brokers

The Board of Directors of California’s Alliance of Insurance Agents and Brokers moved its headquarters to Sacramento, Calif.

“Sacramento is where all the key players in the political and regulatory arena are based,” said Alliance President Gary Jensen. “The Alliance has become a powerful force in public affairs, and we must maintain a strong presence in the state capital.”

Jensen noted the Alliance will continue to maintain its strong Southern California presence, with Yolanda Olguin, Southern Cal sales and marketing director, recruiting new members and coordinating Southern California local meetings.

Jensen said Alliance Executive Director David Nielson has been assembling a staff in the Northern California headquarters.

Amy Fischlin will be the new director of operations. She served for many years as the Sacramento-area field sales manager for Mercury Insurance Group.

The association also hired Barry Fisher as its Northern California sales and marketing manager. Fisher is an insurance industry veteran who most recently worked for Explorer Insurance.

Victory Insurance Co.

Victory Insurance Co. Inc., the first private company based in Montana to offer workers’ compensation insurance, has opened. The company employs about 10 people now, but is expanding daily, said President and CEO Keith Brownfield.

Victory will offer all types of workers’ compensation insurance across Montana. Brownfield said one of the reasons he started the company was to offer an alternative to the Montana State Fund, which has about 70 percent of the business in the state.

About 300 out-of-state companies also are licensed to sell workers’ compensation coverage in Montana, said Matthew Cohn, communications director for the State Fund. Liberty Northwest, based in Portland, Ore., is largest private carrier, he said.

Cohn called Victory’s opening “good news” for Montana businesses. “The more competitive choices in Montana that businesses have, the better off we all are,” he said. “We exist to be a competitive force in the marketplace. It gives Montana employers more opportunity to shop around.”

But he added that there will continue to be a place for the State Fund’s services in Montana. “The difference between us and the private carriers is we are the guaranteed market,” Cohn said. “We must offer insurance to everyone. When everyone else says no to you, we don’t say no. We have to charge accordingly.”

State Auditor John Morrison attended Victory’s open house in March and presented Brownfield with a certificate of authority to offer insurance in Montana, calling the document the “culmination of a long process.”

“This company went through a thorough examination,” Morrison said.

Companies that are based in Montana understand the state’s culture and are too close to be indifferent to their customers, he added. “They have a special incentive to provide good service because Montanans are their neighbors.”

“We try to form a partnership with employers to create a safe working environment, and if an injury occurs, we want to provide superior service in taking care of those claims,” Brownfield told the Miles City Star newspaper.

Allstate Insurance

Allstate Insurance Co. said it intends to open a new claims center in Cheyenne, Wyo., that will bring at least 200 jobs to the city.

The company plans to open an Allstate Express call center in the former Trilegiant building on East Pershing Boulevard.

Melissa Morris, spokeswoman for Allstate, said 95 percent of the jobs will be full-time. The center will be staffed six-days a week from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Allstate began talking to Cheyenne LEADS, the private economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, in June 2005. Tim Thorson, vice president of LEADS, said other companies also considered Cheyenne for a call center.

“We had some companies that were confident they could staff up to a 400-seat call center, but we are comfortable with a 200-seat center,” Thorson said. “Now that we are closer to 100 existing jobs in the community, we think Allstate has a good basis for making their decision.”

Thorson said the workers at the call center will be Allstate employees and eligible for company benefits.

Allstate estimated the center will add $5.2 million in direct payroll into the Laramie County Economy.