People and Places

Dallas-based McQueary Henry Bowles Troy LLP named Kyle Moss a partner in the firm.

Moss, previously employee benefits director in MHBT’s Dallas office, is responsible for the production and servicing of MHBT’s group benefits clients. Moss’ experience dates back to the early 1990s, where he began his sales career while in college selling educational material for the Southwestern Co. Before joining MHBT in the fall of 2001, Moss spent 10 years with Great-West Life, where he received many top salesmanship and leadership awards.

Heartland Marketing Group, a Texas-based MGA, named Larry Kufel vice president of Marketing. Kufel has 31 years of marketing, sales, and underwriting experience in personal and commercial lines dealing with independent agents on a national basis.

Kufel’s most recent position was that as the vice president of Sales for Unitrin Specialty, based in Dallas, Texas.

Southwest Business Corp. announced that Cathy L. Starnes, Ph.D. has joined SWBC as the vice president of Employee Benefits in the company’s San Antonio office. She is responsible for the leadership of the division, development of new health insurance platforms and continuing to find innovative solutions to assist clients in controlling premiums.

Prior to joining SWBC, Starnes was the vice president of Key Accounts for PacifiCare and UnitedHealthcare.

Oklahoma-based The Holmes Organisation added Felix Jones as a Retirement Plan and Group Life and Health producer for its employee benefits division.

Jones brings more than 23 years of experience in the employee benefits field to the company. Specializing in 401(k) retirement plans, he has extensive knowledge in assisting employers with the review, design and successful implementation of retirement plans.

The Holmes Organisation is a Tulsa-based independent insurance agency focused on providing insurance and risk management services to middle- and upper-tier commercial accounts.

The Insurance Information Institute promoted Dr. Robert P. Hartwig to president as of Jan. 1; Dr. L. James Valverde Jr. to vice president of Economics and Risk Management; and announced the retirement of Gordon Stewart, president, after 15 years with I.I.I.

Hartwig, senior vice president and chief economist was also elected executive vice president by the organization’s board of directors. Hartwig came to the I.I.I. in 1998 as a vice president and economist. In 1999 he was promoted to chief economist, and in 2002 he became senior vice president and chief economist.

Valverde joined the I.I.I. in August 2005 as director of Economics and Risk Management, focusing on several topics where risk and uncertainty are pervasive and problematic concerns, including enterprise risk management, global climate change and extreme weather, natural catastrophes and terrorism.

Stewart joined the I.I.I. in July 1989 after a career in politics, business, theater, music and teaching.

Insurance Agents of Texas appointed Dave Wagner as the new territorial manager for North Texas. Wagner will be responsible for marketing IIAT endorsed programs and other membership benefits.

Wagner has more than 20 years insurance industry experience and a combination of insurance and management experience to the position. He has worked with more than 500 independent insurance agencies in Texas and has earned numerous industry awards.

Wagner began his insurance career manually gathering homeowner expiration dates from the local courthouse for an upstate New York State Farm agent. In 1996, Wagner joined The Provident Agency, an independent insurance agency focusing on the insurance needs of volunteer fire departments, based in Pittsburgh, Pa. With Provident, Wagner branched out and began assisting municipalities with insurance needs with the goal of bringing all independent insurance agencies access to all markets. He continued with Heartland Marketing Group, a member company of Curley Insurance Group in Dallas, Texas.

Dennis J. Landry, with Brown & Brown of La., was recently recognized as the nation’s top Quality Control Liaison within the Brown & Brown organization.

Landry oversees the Quality Control function in Brown & Brown’s offices located in both Lafayette and Baton Rouge, La. His career in the insurance industry dates back to 1980, when he joined The Huval Companies, which became a member of the Brown & Brown organization in 2001.

In addition to Brown & Brown’s retail locations in Lafayette and Baton Rouge, it also has three wholesale operations located in the New Orleans business area.

Dallas-based RISC Inc. announced that Tammy Summers joined the firm in its Transportation Department.

Summers has over 25 years experience in commercial auto and transportation underwriting. After several years with American Pathfinders in the ’70s, she left to become the underwriting manager for Commercial General Agency in Plano. She moved after 14 years with CGA to London American where she originated, managed and administrated their long haul trucking program.

Summers will be actively writing with RISC’s current markets while working with management to put together a long haul facility for RISC in the near future.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America appointed Genio Staranczak as the organization’s chief economist. He will be responsible for economic analysis on the full range of public policy issues facing the industry.

Staranczak has a background in macroeconomic analysis and forecasts, microeconomic studies, policy analysis and regulatory research. Before joining PCI he was the principal economist for the Telecommunications Division of the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Topics Texas