People

Bermuda-based United America Indemnity Ltd. has appointed Robert Cohen president and CEO of its subsidiary, Penn Independent Corporation.

Cohen has been acting president and CEO since November 2005. From 1992, he was a senior vice president for United National Group. From 1971, he held management positions at Delaware Valley Underwriting Agency Inc., both company subsidiaries. He will report to the board of directors through Saul Fox, chairman.

Penn Independent, a wholesale broker and underwriting manager for commercial and industrial accounts, markets its products through Delaware Valley Underwriting, Apex Insurance Agency; and Residential Underwriting Agency, Inc. It provides access to property, casualty, transportation, public entity, professional, excess and umbrella, specialty and personal lines products through independent agents and brokers.

Zulma Marquez Zak has been appointed senior vice president of the Executive Liability Practice of Beecher Carlson, an Atlanta-based insurance brokerage and risk management consulting firm.

Zak has more than 20 years experience in the insurance and risk management industry specializing in executive liability products. Zak will focus on business and client development for executive liability products, operating in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Prior to joining Beecher Carlson, Zak co-founded ECM Insurance Services, specializing in executive liability exposures. She has also served as a financial services broker for Swett & Crawford and branch manager for National Union/AIG’s New Jersey office.

Zak began her career with American Home/AIG concentrating in claim administration of directors and officers liability risks and underwrote all professional liability products.

Beecher Carlson’s executive liability team providers advisory and transactional services for preventing, mitigating and financing directors and officers liability and related governance risks.

Geof Molina has been named vice president internal audit of the Main Street America Group in Jacksonville, Fla. At the same time Cathy Parrish and Roy Viands were named assistant secretaries.

Molina joined Main Street America in 1999 as director, internal audit. He was elected assistant treasurer/director, internal audit, in 2000 and assistant vice president, internal audit, in 2002.

Based in Keene, N.H., Molina is responsible for leading, organizing, planning and controlling the company’s auditing functions. He provides its senior management, audit committee and board of directors independent and objective assurance, as well as consulting services designed to add value and improve the quality of our financial and operational processes, controls and performance.

Molina has almost 35 years of property and casualty insurance experience. Prior to joining Main Street America, he held a variety of product line and underwriting roles with The Netherlands Insurance Companies, American Patriot Group and CIGNA Corporation.

Parrish has been appointed assistant secretary/director, compensation and benefits. She joined Main Street America in 2004 as director, compensation and benefits. Based in based in Jacksonville, Fla., she is responsible for planning, directing and managing the analysis development and implementation of the company’s compensation, benefits and human resource information systems programs that are consistent with the organization’s strategic business and human resources objectives.

Parrish has more than 20 years of compensation and benefits experience. Prior to joining Main Street America, she ran her own consulting business, providing numerous compensation, benefits and executive consulting services to clients.

Previously, Parrish held a variety of management positions at Zurich Financial Services, Kaiser Permanente, The Ryland Group, USF&G (now St. Paul Insurance) and Maryland National Bank (now Bank of America).

Viands has been appointed assistant secretary/director, corporate technical planning. He joined Main Street America in 1977 as a senior programmer and has held a variety of positions in information technology during his 29 years at the company.

Based in Keene, Viands is responsible for guiding and approving IT application implementation designs across the organization. Viands was inducted into Main Street America’s Circle of Excellence in 1987.

Prior to joining the company, Viands worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a computer programmer.

Lynwood “Lynn” Roach has been named vice president and program manager, to head the new towing and recovery program just announced by BISYS Specialty Programs in Melbourne, Fla. He is working from a satellite office in High Point, N.C.

Roach has more than 24 years of P&C experience. For 14 years he has focused on start-ups, reinsurance placement underwriting, loss control and safety training seminsrs for specialty niche programs. These programs have included towers, repossessors, garages and workers’ compensation.

Roach can be contacted at BISYS by email, towing@bisys.com or at (866)-754-7658.

Will Weston IV has been nominated to the Independent Insurance Agents of Georgia’s executive committee. According to Kay Wimberly, immediate past president, the nomination took place at the March board of director’s meeting.

If approved by members during IIAG’s annual meeting in June, Weston will serve as secretary-treasurer for the 2006-2007 program year.

Weston is a vice president of Blanchard & Calhoun Insurance Agency in Augusta, Ga., and at present is on IIAG’s Board of Directors as District Five director.

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Topics Agencies Underwriting Human Resources