People

Oakland, Calif.-based catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT Inc. named Bill Keogh president. He will be based in the Hackensack, N.J., office.

Keogh previously served as senior vice president of strategic initiatives. He succeeds Rick Clinton, who will continue in a consulting role until the end of this year. Keogh has more than 25 years experience serving the global property and casualty re/insurance industry. He previously was responsible for defining and implementing corporate strategy.

Gallagher Benefit Services Inc. of Denver added employee benefits expert Dutch Ross as a senior client consultant.

Ross has been an employee benefits broker and consultant for more than a decade. He has run his own consulting firm, Ross Benefits Consulting in Avon, Colo., and has worked with employers in the outlying areas of the state – primarily mountain and southern Colorado.

Historically half of Ross’s clients have been smaller public-sector entities, including towns, schools and special districts with fewer than 500 employees. He is a former board member of the Colorado Human Resource Association and also a former board member of the High Country Human Resource Association. For the past four years, Ross has conducted a Colorado public-sector employee benefits benchmarking survey. He is a licensed health and life agent, as well as a licensed property and casualty agent.

Momentous Insurance Brokerage named Christopher Wilson a sales executive in its Employee Benefits Department. He will help to expand the company’s West Coast practice in the sports/entertainment niche, as well as help to develop the company’s presence with group medical insurance programs.

Wilson has been in the insurance industry since 2005, focusing on life and health insurance for individuals and employer groups. He is a member of both the National Exemplary Scholars in Service and Society for Human Resource Management.

L/B/W Insurance & Financial Services Inc. of Valencia, Calif., announced that Chris Chegwin received the “40 under 40” award from the Junior Chamber International of Santa Clarita and the Signal Newspaper. Chegwin is an account executive with L/B/W.

AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd.’s AXIS Insurance segment formed a design professionals and environmental liability unit that will specialize in providing coverage for architects, engineers, contractors, consultants and other firms. The new unit will be led by Richard Zarandona, who has recently joined AXIS Insurance as executive vice president, AXIS Design Professionals & Environmental based in Berkeley Heights, N.J. Zarandona has nearly 30 years of industry experience and most recently served as head of Arch Insurance Group’s Environmental and Design Professional division for eight years. Prior to joining Arch, he had been vice president and director of Zurich North America’s architects and engineers and environmental consultants liability lines of business.

BB&T Insurance Services of California Inc. named Michael DeMore senior vice president and employee benefits manager of the Irvine, Calif., operation. DeMore has more than 30 years of experience in the employee benefits arena and has a reputation for building a practice and leading teams. In addition, he has built a significant book of employee benefit clients within the public entity and health care sectors.

EPIC (Edgewood Partners Insurance Center), a retail property/casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage, added Jim Gillette as a principal and senior vice president in its Los Angeles office, as well as added Diane Browne as a property/casualty insurance producer and senior vice president in its San Francisco office.

Gillette has many years of client management, advocacy, and risk advisory experience and will focus on client relationship management.

Browne has 30 years of insurance program management, client advocacy, and risk advisory experience.

Topics Agencies Property Casualty Pollution Colorado Employee Benefits Human Resources