People

Kyle Stevens was elected the new president and chief executive officer of Western Security Surplus Insurance Brokers, a wholesale broker and managing general agency with offices in California and Texas.

Stevens has served as the chief operating officer since 2005, where he was responsible with overseeing all offices of the company, including overall production and progress of the WSS branches. Stevens will remain in the Texas office and assume his new duties from there.

Richard Polizzi will remain chairman and oversee the growth of the organization. Georgina Polizzi, senior vice president will continue to oversee the company human relations, IT and accounting departments.

Robert P. Page of Houma, La., has been installed as president of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA National).

Page, co-owner of Charles A. Page and Sons Insurance Agency in Houma, has served on the PIA of Louisiana Board of Directors since 1996. With the state association, he has held the offices of secretary/treasurer, president-elect, president and national director of PIA of Louisiana.

During the past several years, Page held a succession of officer positions with PIA National, culminating with his current position as president. In addition, Page has served as chair of the PIA National Natural Catastrophe Task Force.

Page was the recipient of the 1998 American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA) Award and was the 1996 and 1998 Louisiana Home Builders SIF Agent of the Year. Page is also the 2002 recipient of PIA of Louisiana’s Agent of the Year Award.

The Houma agent will serve on PIA National’s executive committee along with Donna L. Pile of Lexington, Ky., immediate past president; Kenneth R. Auerbach, Esq. of Eatontown, N.J., president-elect; Jon D. Spalding of Perry, Mich., vice president/treasurer; and Brian Marino of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., secretary/assistant treasurer.

Robert E. Fulwider was inaugurated as the new chair of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”), with C. Brett Nilsson, and J. David Daniel assuming the offices of chair-elect and vice chair, respectively.

Fulwider is principal and president of the Ray Wuestenberg Agency Inc. in West Liberty, Iowa, and the Fulwider Agency Inc. in West Branch, Iowa. He also is president of Bob Fulwider and Associates, a life and health/financial planning agency in eastern Iowa.

Nilsson is senior vice president for The Buckner Co., based in Salt Lake City. Prior to being elected to the Executive Committee in 2003, Nilsson served as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Utah from 1992-93. He also served as a director on the Big “I” national board for nine years. Nilsson is a past recipient of Utah’s Agent of the Year and Young Agent of the Year awards, and he received an IIABA Presidential Citation in 2001.

Daniel is president of Daniel & Eustis Insurance in Baton Rouge, La. Prior to being elected to the Executive Committee, Daniel served on the board of directors of the Independent Insurance Agents of Louisiana before becoming president in 1997. Daniel has received IIAL’s Lifetime Achievement Award as well as the Outstanding Committee Chairman Award. On the national level, Daniel has served on IIABA’s Technical Affairs Committee and was chairman of the Governance and Communication Task Force.

Argo Group International Holdings Ltd., an international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products, named Sam Anderson as president of Argonaut Specialty, the unit of Argo Group that focuses on larger risks in its excess and surplus lines business segment.

Anderson comes to his new position from Argo Group’s Colony Insurance where, as chief underwriting officer and, prior to that, as vice president of special projects, he supported the growth of excess and surplus operations in the U.S.

Anderson has been with Colony since 2003. Prior to joining Colony, he worked with General Star/General Re for 21 years in various underwriting and management capacities including senior vice president. He served as a former director of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Officers Ltd.

David Sommer, president of Germania Farm Mutual Insurance, has been elected chairman of the board of Southwestern Insurance Information Service, a Texas-based insurer trade group.

Sommer began his career with Germania as an accountant and progressed to secretary-treasurer before being elected as president and chairman of the board.

He also serves as a director of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies Property Casualty Conference Board, vice president of the Texas Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, treasurer of Camp for All and chairman of the board of the Blinn College Foundation.

Rep. Larry Taylor (Friendswood), owner of Truman Taylor Insurance Agency, was appointed to the Texas Property Casualty Insurance Legislative Oversight Committee.

The Property Casualty Insurance Legislative Oversight Committee was created by Senate Bill 14 from the 79th Texas Legislature. It is responsible for monitoring the progress of property and casualty insurance regulation reform and reviewing recommendations for legislation related to property and casualty insurance stability, availability and competition with the property and casualty insurance industry.

The committee has seven members: the chair of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee; two senators appointed by the lieutenant governor; the chair of the House Committee on Insurance; two members of the House appointed by the speaker; and the public insurance counsel.

To submit information for “People,” e-mail sjones@insurancejournal.com.

Topics Texas Agencies Excess Surplus Louisiana Property Iowa Property Casualty Casualty