People

Bermuda-based Catlin Group Ltd. appointed Nick Greggains chief underwriting officer for insurance, and Andrew Englesbe chief underwriting officer for reinsurance for Catlin U.S. Both will be responsible for insurance and reinsurance underwriting operations in the United States.

Greggains was most recently president and chief operating officer of the XL Design Professional, a unit of XL Insurance. Prior to joining XL, he held positions at Brown & Brown Risk Management and Corcoran & Havlin Insurance. He will be working out of Catlin’s Hartford, Conn., office.

Englesbe was most recently director of property facultative reinsurance for Catlin US, which he joined in December 2006, following the Catlin Group’s acquisition of Wellington Underwriting plc. Prior to joining Wellington, he was director of property facultative reinsurance for J. Linneman & Co. He worked for 22 years with General Re. He will be working out of Catlin’s Sonoma, Calif., office.

The Society of Actuaries named Gregory W. Heidrich executive director. Heidrich comes from the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, in Des Plaines, Ill., where he most recently was senior vice president, policy development and research.

Marsh UK named Chris Wallace head of its Commercial Client Practice in the United Kingdom. The practice, part of Marsh UK’s national business, provides risk and insurance services to small companies and organizations. Wallace joins Marsh from Royal & SunAlliance, where he held several leadership positions since 1996.

Kate Cooper was promoted to junior commercial lines underwriter for McFall General Agency Inc. in Portland, Ore. She will underwrite, rate and quote renewals, and act as a back-up to the associate underwriters.

Also, Jenny Lupescu has been promoted to assistant vice president. She will continue her duties as underwriting manager of all commercial lines, which includes responsibility for transportation, garage, and property/casualty departments.

Bolton & Co., based in Pasadena, Calif., named Leslie Davidson Pearce assistant vice president in the Employee Benefits division. She will focus on client relationship management and business development. Pearce brings more than 15 years of employee benefits experience to clients.

Colemont Insurance Brokers in Southern California added Blake Baker to its Woodland Hills, Calif., office. Baker is a workers’ compensation specialty broker with more than 20 years of experience. He will be heading Colemont-Woodland Hills’ new workers’ compensation functions.

The company also promoted Terry Willhoite to vice president of its Woodland Hills, Calif., office. Willhoite has more than 20 years experience, specializing in commercial property/difference in conditions and commercial general liability for contractors and habitational risks.

And the company promoted Carole Brown to assistant vice president of Colemont – San Francisco. She has more than 18 years of experience in excess and surplus lines, and heads up the Financial Services Department in San Francisco. She handles the placements of products such as directors and officers liability, employment practice liability, as well as other miscellaneous professional liability/errors and omissions coverages.

California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund promoted Diane Lawrence to underwriting manager. Lawrence began her State Fund career as a marketing consultant at the organization’s San Francisco corporate office in 1981. Most recently she was program manager of State the Project Services Office.

Keith Kincaid was promoted to claims operations manager for SCIF’s Glendale operations. He brings 15 years of workers’ compensation experience to his new post, which was launched at the organization’s West Los Angeles District Office when he was hired as a claims adjuster.

Builders & Tradesmen’s Insurance Services Inc. in Rocklin, Calif., named Debbie O’Connor senior workers’ compensation underwriter. O’Connor has more than 15 years in the insurance industry with more than 10 years specializing in workers’ compensation. Most recently she was with the Western Insurance Agents Association.

C.M. Meiers Co. Inc.’s CMM Entertainment Division named Chris Palmer director of risk services and account executive. Palmer has been a risk and insurance professional for almost 20 years, and is an authority on international film and television risk.

Allstate Insurance Co. promoted Phil Telgenhoff to assistant field vice president for the Allstate California Region. He will supervise senior distribution leaders throughout the state. In his 18 years with the company, Telgenhoff has worked in the claims, human resources and sales departments, and most recently was regional distribution leader.

Karen Vogler of Sun Microsystems Inc. in Broomfield, Colo., was selected as the 2007 recipient of the Lance J. Ewing RIMS and CRM Fellowship, a scholarship awarded at the RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition. The fellowship was established to recognize the leadership and accomplishments of former RIMS President Lance J. Ewing.

Brown & Brown Inc. appointed Michael Paschke and Anthony Strianese regional executive vice presidents. Paschke is headquartered in the West, and Strianese headquartered in the Northeast.

Paschke joined the company in 1990. His responsibilities have included taking a lead position on Western region mergers and acquisitions, and recruitment and development of personnel.

Strianese came to Brown & Brown in January 2000 when he formed Peachtree Special Risk Brokers. In his new capacity, he will continue to direct the PSRB offices and seek new opportunities while also overseeing the operations of several other Brown & Brown wholesale operations, including ECC Insurance Brokers, MacDuff Underwriters and Roehrig & MacDuff Underwriters.

Topics California USA Agencies Workers' Compensation Underwriting Reinsurance Property