People

The National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices has named its officers and directors for the 2007-2008 term. The new NAPSLO president is Mary Ellen Rozzell, who is with Continental/Marmorstein & Malone in Paramus, N.J.

Other officers include Vice President, John F. Wood, Specialty Risk Associates, Inc., Shreveport, La.; Secretary, Dale H. Pilkington, Colony Insurance Co., Richmond, Va.; and Treasurer, Marshall P. Kath, Colemont Brokerage Group Inc., Dallas, Texas.

Kevin T. Westrope, Westrope, Kansas City, Mo., was nominated for a new three-year term on the board. Steven R. Gross, Metro Insurance Services Inc.; Marshall P. Kath, Colemont Brokerage Group Inc.; Tom Mulligan, Western World Insurance Group; and Gary Tiepelman, Scottsdale Insurance Co., were re-nominated for three-year terms.

IWIF Workers’ Compensation Insurance in Maryland has promoted Paige Beck to the position of executive vice president and chief financial officer.

In this position, Beck oversees all financial activities for the organization including preparing financial reports, summaries and forecasts for business growth, and tracks the general economic outlook for Maryland business as it relates to IWIF.

During her 17-year tenure with the Towson-based insurer, Beck has served as head of IWIF’s Internal Audit department and as assistant vice president of Finance. Prior to joining IWIF, she was employed with the Office of Legislative Audits.

The Hanover Insurance Group has named Richard W. Lavey regional president for the Northeast region, including the company’s operations in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York. He will be responsible for all aspects of commercial and personal lines distribution, marketing and sales in the region. He will work out of the company’s Worcester, Massachusetts office.

Lavey joined The Hanover in 2004 as vice president for strategic marketing and has driven many of the company’s growth initiatives over the last three-and-a-half years. He came to The Hanover from The Hartford, where he served as vice president of strategic initiatives for property and casualty and then vice president of strategic marketing for The Hartford’s Select Customer division.

Lavey began his career at Travelers Insurance Co. and also has several years of experience consulting to the insurance and financial services industry.

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. also announced that Roger Morelli has been named regional vice president for personal lines for the company’s New York territory. Morelli will be responsible for both the Upstate and Westchester County New York territories.

Morelli comes to The Hanover from Safeco Insurance, where he served as sales and distribution manager for the company’s New York, Vermont and New Hampshire territories.

Previously, Morelli had served in various marketing and operations roles at Liberty Mutual, Allstate and Continental Insurance, and on the agency side of the business, at the Irwin Siegel Agency in Rock Hill, New York.

Prior to Morelli joining the company, The Hanover’s upstate New York region was managed by Len Ryer, and Westchester County was managed by Mary Bernadette Corrigan. Now, as Morelli joins the company, Ryer will continue in his responsibility for personal lines in The Hanover’s New England region (except Massachusetts), while Corrigan will focus her efforts on personal lines in the New Jersey region, and in New York City and Long Island.

Luanne V. McCarthy has been promoted to commercial lines underwriting supervisor in the state of New York for Vermont Mutual. McCarthy has been employed with Vermont Mutual Insurance Group in Montpelier, Vt. since July 1986. She has worked as a commercial lines underwriter for 15 years, most recently in the eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut territory.

The insurance network SAN Group, Inc. has added Frank J. Waters as the regional vice president of Northern New England. Waters’ responsibilities will include the overall strategic growth of SAN Group in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. This will include working with existing SAN Members and company representatives as well as appointing new SAN Members.

Waters is a native New Englander, originally from southern Maine, and was in law enforcement for 15 years prior to entering the insurance industry in 1990 and joining Liberty Mutual. At Liberty Mutual, Waters started in production in 1991 selling personal lines in Maine And was promoted to sales management positions in Utah and New Hampshire.

In 2006, Waters joined SAN Group, and formed Acu-Rate Insurance Agency of Nashua. Acu-Rate insurance is continuing as a SAN Member under new ownership.

Reinsurance and risk intermediary Benfield has created a dedicated capital markets unit within Benfield Advisory, its specialist corporate finance and advisory business. The new unit will be led by Michael Steel in London, in conjunction with Edward Torres and Ron Collins in New York. It will handle non-traditional risk transfer solutions including sidecars, catastrophe bonds, industry loss warranties (ILW), collateralised reinsurance, derivatives and other indexed linked securities. It will also manage a dedicated “ILW Desk” to enhance the group’s offering in this market.

The Capital Markets Division will operate alongside Benfield Advisory’s existing Corporate Advisory Division, which offers strategic advice on corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs and capital raising. The Corporate Advisory Division is led by Tristan McDonald in London and Scott Maries in New York.

At the same time, Mike Cain has been appointed as chief operating officer and general counsel for Benfield Advisory. Cain comes from Benfield’s legal team.

Topics New York Massachusetts Maine Vermont New Hampshire