People

Unisource Program Administrators (UPA), a workers’ compensation wholesaler headquartered in Oklahoma City, has expanded services to all 50 states.

In addition, the company named Barbara Drollinger, a 20-year workers’ compensation expert, vice president of strategic relations. Drollinger previously served as vice president of insurance operations for CompSource Oklahoma. She launched the company’s agent program.

America First Insurance Regional Vice President Keith Thompson has been appointed to a three-year term serving on the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA).

Five insurance company executives appointed by Louisiana insurers and four legislators chosen jointly by the state Legislature and the Louisiana Insurance Commissioner comprise the board.

Specialty lines underwriting manager and surplus lines wholesale broker U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. has named Jennifer Hixson a vice president and broker, and Mary Walker an associate broker in the U.S. Risk Brokers Houston office.

Hixson has more than 20 years of insurance experience, with the last 10 years in the wholesale arena. She most recently was an assistant vice president at CRC working on casualty business.

Walker is responsible for growing and servicing a book of property, casualty and healthcare related business, as well as marketing new and renewal business. Most recently, Walker was a manager at American Insurance Group. She has more than 16 years’ experience in the insurance industry. Walker is currently pursuing her CIC designation.

Bonnie Miller was named Austin Association of Insurance Professionals’ (AAIP) Insurance Professional of the Year in August. Miller is the commercial lines manager with Combined Agents of America LLC (CAA) founding member, Ed Weeren Insurance Agency Inc.

The AAIP Insurance Professional of the Year award is presented to an Austin insurance professional whose work in the organization is above and beyond any position he or she may hold, as well as their loyalty to their job, employer, family and their community service work.

Miller has worked for the Ed Weeren Insurance Agency for 21 years in the commercial lines department. She began her insurance career in Rochester, Minn., and worked for several years in Tulsa, Okla.

Ed Weeren Insurance Agency Inc. has served Austin businesses and individuals since 1899, when it first opened its doors as the JO Garrett Co. Expressing pride in Miller’s achievement, Kelli Stanford, CEO of Ed Weeren Insurance Agency, said Miller “gives 110 percent at all times.”

Colemont Insurance Brokers announced that David Emerson has joined the company’s Dallas office as vice president and broker specializing in transportation business.

Prior to joining Colemont, Emerson was assistant director and vice president for international operations for GSP Consulting. He has also served as vice president for Higginbotham & Associates, where he created a transportation department, and as vice president for agency operations for American Trucker Insurance (Great West Casualty).

Austin, Texas-based national insurance broker, Insurance Network of America, has added C. Patrick Nunley J.D., to its Professional Services Practice Group in a consultative role. Additionally, the firm welcomed Tahnee L. Johnson as a marketing coordinator in its Professional Services/Legal Practice Group.

Since 1984, Nunley has advised professionals, executives, managers, employees, business owners, entrepreneurs and others during a solid litigation career with the Texas law firm Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee LLP.

A BBA graduate of Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, Johnson is starting her new professional services career in marketing and sales. She worked in the public relations industry throughout college and coordinated and conducted several successful marketing campaigns. Johnson will be handling new initiatives for Insurance Network of America and its affiliate, Principal Risk Advisors.

Houston-based HCC Insurance Holdings Inc. has appointed Paul A. “Tony” Yasilli Jr. as a vice president and regional director of American Contractors Indemnity Company and U.S. Specialty Insurance Company, members of the HCC Surety Group.

Yasilli will lead a new office in Addison, Texas, focusing on contract, license and permit, and court bond business in Texas and surrounding states.

Yasilli and his team of underwriting and service professionals, including George M. Storm, bring more than 25 years of experience in the Texas surety marketplace.

The Woodlands Financial Group Inc. (TWFG), a retail and managing general agency based in The Woodlands, Texas, has opened three new branch locations.

Steve Lovecchio has opened a new branch in New Orleans, La. Lovecchio comes to TWFG with almost 20 years in the insurance industry, most of which were with American National. Lovecchio has knowledge in all fields of insurance including property/casualty, life and health, commercial insurance and underwriting.

Ron Inglis has opened a new branch in Southlake, Texas. Inglis has more than 12 years of insurance experience, most of which were with Farmers Insurance Group. Inglis has an extensive accounting and investment background.

Keith Engelke has opened a new branch in Magnolia, Texas. Engelke has more than three years of experience with Allstate, where he earned Gold-Level Honors.

BerkleyNet Underwriters LLC (BerkleyNet) is expanding its workers’ compensation program into the Southwest, including Texas. John Greig has been named director of business development to assist with the expansion into this region, which also includes Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. Greig will be based in Houston.

Greig has worked in direct sales, agency management and as a broker for a variety of different product lines and services. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas and has earned the Associate of Risk Management (ARM) designation.

California-based insurance support services firm Perr&Knight announced that James Vallee has joined the firm as a consulting actuary in the company’s Fort Worth, Texas, office.

With the addition of Vallee, Perr&Knight broadens its capabilities to include accident and health actuarial consulting services. Previously, with its 20-plus Fellows and Associates of the Casualty Actuarial Society, Perr&Knight’s actuarial consulting services were limited to property/casualty lines of insurance.

Before joining Perr&Knight, Vallee, who has 15 years of insurance and consulting experience, was the accident and health pricing and product development actuary at HealthMarkets in North Richland Hills, Texas. Vallee became a member of the American Academy of Actuaries in 2002 and a fellow of the Society of Actuaries in 2007.

Dr. Larry Ferachi, a Baton Rouge board-certified orthopaedic surgeon who has served as team physician for the LSU football and basketball teams since 1995, has been named medical director for the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s Office of Workers’ Compensation.

Ferachi’s appointment is the next step in the establishment of evidence-based medical treatment guidelines for workers’ compensation benefits, an initiative that began with legislation by Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, and was signed into law in July.

As medical director, Ferachi will assist the medical advisory council with the development of the medical guidelines. The council – made up of at least one orthopedic surgeon, neurosurgeon, neurologist, interventional pain management physician, family practice physician, physical and occupational therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists and a representative from the Chiropractic Association of Louisiana – will review current guidelines and provide recommendations for a medical treatment schedule to guide treatment for workplace illnesses and injuries.

In addition to his private practice with the Baton Rouge Orthopaedic Clinic, Ferachi serves as an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery for the LSU Health Sciences Center at Earl K. Long Hospital.

Topics USA Texas Agencies Workers' Compensation Louisiana Casualty