Aon Risk Services of Oklahoma welcomed Don Horner to its staff as vice president, Health & Welfare Practice leader. He will be responsible for new business production, management of the Tulsa office’s Health & Welfare clients, expansion of product lines of current clients, and providing technical assistance in account management and client service.
Horner has over 12 years of industry experience and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tulsa.
Fort Worth, Texas-based Higginbotham & Associates named Drew Robinson an account executive in its Dallas office.
Robinson is a December 2005 graduate of Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, Ark., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in just three and a half years with a Minister’s Child Scholarship. While completing his studies, Robinson worked at the university as head apartment manager, resident assistant, telecounselor and student worker for the admissions office.
Having completed more than 200 community service hours between Fall 2004 and Spring 2005, Robinson is actively involved in volunteer work. His philanthropic activities have included Ouachita Baptist University Tiger Serve Day, Peer Assistance and Leadership Program, Operation Christmas Child and mission work in New York, Boston and Los Angeles.
Assurex Global, a worldwide network of independent insurance brokers, recently appointed Paul J. Hering as chairman. Hering succeeds Gregory S. Belton (with Hunter Keilty Muntz & Beatty Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada), who continues his board service as chairman emeritus. Hering is the managing principal and CEO of Barney & Barney LLC in San Diego, which has been affiliated with Assurex Global since 1984.
Other Assurex Global Partners recently elected to three-year board terms include: Matt Coleman, president, strategy and business development, Van Gilder Insurance Corp., Denver; Frank Mikan, president, The HDH Group Inc., Pittsburgh; and David Lee Rodriguez, director, international division, Pulsar Global Insurance Brokers Srl, Milan, Italy.
Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Assurex Global represents more than 130 independently owned and locally managed firms.
Seattle-based Safeco appointed Michael LaRocco as president and chief operating officer of Safeco Insurance Companies.
In this expanded role, LaRocco will bring together the company’s property and casualty operations and will have profit-and-loss responsibility for all Safeco product lines, including product development, underwriting, claims, service, sales, distribution and market research.
A 27-year insurance veteran, LaRocco started his career at Progressive and later held executive positions at GEICO. He joined Safeco in 2001 to lead the company’s personal lines enterprise.
Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. named M. Michele Burns executive vice president starting March 1, 2006, and chief financial officer no later than March 31, 2006. Burns succeeds Sandra S. Wijnberg, who announced in August that she plans to resign from the company.
Burns has been executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief restructuring officer of Mirant since 2004. Prior to Mirant she spent five years at Delta Air Lines Inc., last serving as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Before Delta, she was a senior tax partner at Arthur Andersen LLP.
Aon Construction Services Group appointed Phil Shaw as director, Surety. Shaw will be responsible for primary account management duties on commercial and contract accounts for the Dallas office, syndication and placement of surety risks, and overall marketing, sales, and business development responsibility for the surety practice.
An Aon employee for the past three years, Shaw previously spent 13 years with Employers Re and nine years with Chubb.
Cooper Gay & Cashman, based in Minneapolis, Minn., and Cooper Gay Group, based in London, appointed Phil Sandercox as a senior vice president.
Sandercox joins Cooper Gay & Cashman from General Re in Stamford, Conn., where he was vice president and regional manager, responsible for their New England and Mid Atlantic regions of Specialty Treaty. He was at General Re since 1989, where he concentrated on Directors and Officers and Employment Practice Liability classes of business.
Sandercox began his reinsurance career at Travelers in 1986. He holds a degree in economics from Bethany College and a MBA from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.
Liberty Mutual Group in Boston announced that Tom Leamon, director of its Research Institute for Safety since 1991, will retire in late 2006. Liberty Mutual has appointed Dr. Y. Ian Noy vice president and director to succeed Leamon.
Over his 15-year tenure, Leamon has overseen two major reconstructions, the publication of nearly 400 peer-reviewed, scientific publications and a restructuring that formed two separate research entities–the Center for Safety Research and the Center for Disability Research. He expanded the scope of research, initiated the Visiting Scholar Program and established research alliances with universities and institutions around the world including Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Harvard University, the British Health & Safety Laboratory and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Dr. Noy has 30 years of professional experience in ergonomics, human factors and motor vehicle safety. He most recently served as director of Standards Research and Development in Transport Canada’s Road Safety Directorate. Noy earned his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in Industrial Engineering and Human Factors, is a Certified Professional Ergonomist and a Canadian Professional Engineer.
To submit information to “People” e-mail ijtexas@insurancejournal.com.
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