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AAA has named current company president Paula F. Downey CEO of AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah and its insurance affiliate, the California State Auto Group.

According to the company, Downey is the only female chief executive among top property/casualty insurance companies. She heads the second-largest club and insurance company in the national AAA federation, with more than $2.6 billion in annual revenue and more than 4.2 million members. The insurance company offers insurance services through partnerships with other AAA clubs to more than 10 million members in 18 states. Downey succeeds James Pouliot, who will focus full-time on his role as CEO of AAA Club Affiliates, a holding company established as a consolidation vehicle for other AAA clubs.

EPIC (Edgewood Partners Insurance Center), a retail property/casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage, added Jim Hilbrant as a producer in its Orange, Calif., office. His responsibilities will include the acquisition of new business and the design, placement and management of insurance and risk management programs for new clients. He will focus on the needs of the construction, transportation and manufacturing sectors, where his expertise in workers’ compensation insurance cost control is particularly needed and valued.

Hilbrant brings more than 30 years of experience in commercial property/casualty insurance to EPIC. Prior to becoming a retail broker, Hilbrant held positions as an insurance company underwriter and as an excess and surplus lines broker, in addition to founding and running his own wholesale insurance agency specializing in construction, transportation and manufacturing risks. He spent the past six years as a commercial insurance producer at Invensure Insurance Brokers in Irvine, Calif.

Gallagher Benefit Services Inc. in Greenwood Village, Colo., hired Keeli Thomas as client consultant. She will focus on new business development in the 50- to 250-employee market.

San Diego-based Cavignac & Associates hired Kathleen Repine as an executive assistant to provide administrative support to all agency departments. Prior to joining Cavignac & Associates, Repine served two years as a research assistant to the data analyst at William O’Neil & Co. Inc.

Jacob Sokol was appointed marketing manager of C.V. Starr & Co. Inc. based in New York. Sokol will be responsible for the development and implementation of Starr’s marketing efforts as the company expands its insurance operations. He has more than nine years of insurance industry experience, most recently as assistant branch manager for the New York office of C.V. Starr & Co. He joined C. V. Starr & Co. (California) in 2006 as a senior underwriter.

Specialty insurer Ironshore Inc. appointed Scott Fitzmaurice regional executive for the Southeast and John Koller branch executive in San Francisco. The appointments expand Ironshore’s U.S field operations.

Fitzmaurice will be responsible for business development in the Southeast while retaining his existing responsibilities with IronPro, Ironshore’s management liability division. He previously was a regional manager for AIG Management Liability.

Koller will build upon Ironshore’s presence in the West while maintaining his responsibilities with Ironshore Property. Most recently, Koller was an account executive with Aon, and served for more than 15 year with HRH, FM Global, The Hartford and Atlantic Mutual.

Betsy Enloe was appointed vice president of technology at Specialty Risk Services, a subsidiary of The Hartford that specializes third-party administration for workers’ compensation and liability claims. Enloe, who will be based in Hartford, Conn., will work with the SRS senior leadership team to refine technology strategy. Enloe has more than 20 years of experience in executive business and technology roles at The Hartford and Trumbull Services.

Topics California Property Casualty