People

America First Insurance, a Liberty Mutual Agency Markets regional company based in Richardson, Texas, appointed Stephen Stricklen assistant vice president, Specialty Products.

In this position Stricklen will manage the company’s new Farm & Ranch Division, as well as its rural agency appointment program County Seat.

Stricklen joined America First Insurance in May 2006 and was most recently regional vice president for the company’s business in Arkansas and Louisiana. A property and casualty specialist since 1972, Stricklen will manage a team of six agribusiness underwriters and assistants from the home office in Richardson.

Initially, America First Insurance is offering farm and ranch coverages in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, with subsequent expansion into Arkansas and Louisiana.

Independent insurance and financial services firm Higginbotham & Associates added two brokers to its Austin, Texas, office. Higginbotham named Chris Camero an executive vice president for group benefits and Travis Bowles an account executive for commercial property/casualty.

Camero joined the Austin office from Madison Benefits Group, a Houston-based employee benefits brokerage and consulting firm that Higginbotham joined forces with in September 2008.

Higginbotham entered Austin’s property/casualty insurance market in 2004 and is looking to Camero to lead the growth of the office’s group benefits practice. Camero has concentrated experience in benefit plan brokerage and underwriting, having worked for a number of benefits agencies and insurance carriers before joining Madison Benefits in 2004.

Higginbotham recruited Bowles, a recent college graduate, into its Producer Mentor Program to train him in commercial property/casualty insurance brokerage. Bowles graduated with distinction from Texas Christian University in 2008 with a degree in communications.

Higginbotham’s Producer Mentor Program supports individuals who have demonstrated superior communication and entrepreneurial skills to build profitable books of business.

During the course of the program, Bowles will earn a property/casualty insurance license, study loss control strategies, train under a senior level broker and learn sales fundamentals. The firm credits its consistent organic growth in part to this program.

Towerstone Inc., a wholesale insurance broker and managing general agency headquartered in Dallas, has added three new employees.

Samar Aragon joined Towerstone as an account manager. She brings five years of experience as an assistant underwriter with a local wholesale broker.

Ashley Connolly is a new account representative for Towerstone. Connolly has held a position as communications coordinator in Dallas and holds a bachelors degree in interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in business and psychology from the University of Texas.

Lisa Sherman was named office manager. Her experience includes two years with a large national broker as an executive/marketing assistant.

Dallas-based Apex Global Partners Inc. (AGP) expanded its Houston operations and appointed John Greig vice president of its Risk Management Division.

Greig has more than 15 years of experience in sales and risk management. In his new position, he will focus on contemporary risk management solutions to corporate clients in the greater Houston marketplace.

Prior to joining AGP, Greig was a risk management services broker for Aon.

Apex Global Partners serves corporate clients in the areas of domestic and international brokerage and risk management consulting, as well as employee benefits and human resources consulting and outsourcing, and actuarial services. Apex works with more than 62 partners in 55 countries through its participation in WBN Ltd., the largest privately owned insurance broker network.

Quirk & Co., an insurance wholesaler headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with branch offices in Austin, Dallas and Atlanta, recently named Merry Palmer manager of the Pacific Northwest Lines Team and Cheri Bahmanyar underwriter for the Oregon office.

Palmer’s focus will be on sales and marketing in Washington and Oregon. She has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry.

Bahmanyar will underwrite risks in Washington and Oregon. She also has more than 25 years of insurance experience.

Property/casualty insurance company Zenith National Insurance Corp. said board member Leon Panetta has resigned to become director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

President Barack Obama chose Panetta, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and a former Democratic congressman from California, to head the agency.

Panetta had served as a member of Zenith’s audit committee and its nominating and corporate governance committee.

Zenith named Jerome L. Coben, a partner at Zeughauser Group, as Panetta’s replacement. Coben will serve on the audit committee and the health care committee.

Topics Employee Benefits