Business Moves

Yates

Tustin, Calif.-based managing general agent Yates has opened a northern California office in Walnut Creek.

Jon Uyeyama has joined the office, bringing with him 10 years of underwriting experience. Uyeyama will oversee the expansion of the office over the next few months as the company further expands its presence in the East Bay and San Francisco, according to Yates.

Yates currently has five underwriters based in and around Stockton.

Yates & Associates, which was started by founder Jim Yates in 1987, was recently sold to venture capital firm Scottish American Capital, with Jim Yates retaining ownership of 20 percent of the firm. The firm was renamed to Yates, and Scottish American chief Paul Thompson is now CEO of Yates.

Brown & Brown of California, Sitzmann

Brown & Brown of Northern California Inc., a subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc. has acquired substantially all of the assets of Sitzmann, Morris & Lavis Insurance Agency Inc.

SML is in the employee benefits, life insurance, estate planning and business continuity fields. SML will continue to serve its California clients from its offices in Oakland, Lafayette, and Santa Rosa under the leadership of Matthew M. Sitzmann.

SML Financial Services is not part of the transaction and will continue to operate from its existing Oakland, Calif. location.

Brown & Brown through its subsidiaries offers a range of insurance and reinsurance products and related services, as well as a variety of risk management, third-party administration and other services.

Phonex, DAVID

Private equity firm Phoenix Asset Management has acquired DAVID Corp., a provider of risk management and insurance software and services.

DAVID Corp. has been providing software and services to commercial and alternative P/C insurance markets for more than 27 years.

DAVID Corporation president and CEO Alex Aminian said the investment of capital by Phoenix will help with their strategic growth objectives.

BB&T, Precept

BB&T Insurance Services has acquired Precept Group, an employee benefits consulting and administrative solutions firm, as part of BB&T’s continued expansion in California.

Precept has offices in Irvine and San Ramon, Calif.

The new agency, which operates under the Precept Group name, will continue to manage Precept Consulting Services and ProView Benefits Administration Services. The transaction closed Nov. 1, and terms were not disclosed.

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T, a wholly owned subsidiary of BB&T Corp., entered the California market in 2008 with its acquisition of San Diego-based UnionBanc Insurance Services. BB&T Insurance Services now operates agencies in Folsom, Fullerton, Glendale, Irvine, Pleasanton, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose.

ISU, ISU Cunnington & Associates

ISU International has added ISU Cunnington & Associates to the ISU Network.

Founded in 2005 and owned by Greg Cunnington, ISU Cunnington specializes in both commercial lines and personal lines, with locations in Idaho and California.

Cunnington himself has over 30 years’ experience as an independent agent, serving clients throughout the West, with a focus on determining eligibility and placement of qualified businesses in group captives.

San Francisco, Calif.-based ISU Network consists of over 125 independently owned and operated offices.

Liberty

Liberty International Underwriters (LIU), the global specialty lines division of Liberty Mutual Group, has opened an excess and surplus (E&S) property operation in Los Angeles to better serve the West Coast wholesale broker community.

Chet Simmons, an insurance veteran with 35 years’ experience, has been named regional manager for LIU’s E&S Property West Coast operation.

This new E&S Property operation builds upon LIU’s presence on the West Coast.

Beazley, CalSurance

Orange, Calif.-based CalSurance Associates, a division of Brown & Brown of California Inc., has named Beazley, an insurer of data privacy and network security risks, as a preferred information privacy and security insurer for insurance agents and other financial services professionals insured through CalSurance’s program.

CalSurance will offer Beazley’s information security and privacy insurance with electronic media liability coverage.

Brown & Brown of California is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc.

Topics California