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Bob Shepard, board chairman of Shepard Walton King Insurance Group in Harlingen, was installed as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas for 2011-2012 during the association’s annual business meeting in Houston on June 24.

Patrick Watkins, president of Watkins Insurance Group, Austin, was installed as president-elect. Installed as vice president was Don Whitaker, president and owner of Whitaker Insurance Associates Inc. in San Antonio. David VanDelinder, executive director of the IIAT, will retain his position as secretary-treasurer.

Elected to the board of directors for three-year terms each were Mark Ray with Borden Insurance in Corpus Christi, Bob Dean with Dean and Draper in Houston, and Bill Kliewer with Bigham, Kliewer, Chapman, Watts in Killeen. All terms begin Sept. 1.

Stonetrust Commercial Insurance Co., a Louisiana-based workers’ compensation insurer, has added Michael G. Dileo and Ron Bowen to its management team:

Dileo has been named vice president of Underwriting for Stonetrust. A graduate of Louisiana State University, he has more than 20 years of commercial insurance and workers’ compensation management experience. Dileo was most recently senior vice president of Claims for Texas Mutual Insurance Co. and previously served as vice president of Claims and vice president of Underwriting at Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corp. (LWCC).

Bowen has been hired as Loss Prevention manager at Stonetrust. A graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University, Bowen was most recently with LWCC and has 17 years of loss prevention experience.

Swett & Crawford has opened an office in Houston, Texas, headed by Senior Vice President and Property Specialist John Konstantinidis. Konstantinidis has relocated from Swett’s New York office.

Swett Executive Vice President Michael Ruhe cites Houston’s strong economy and Swett’s existing property business and relationships there with many retail brokers as the opportunity driver for this decision.

Konstantinidis, an industry veteran with experience as both a retail and wholesale broker, began his P/C career with Johnson & Higgins. He later moved to Aon in New York as a broker in Aon’s large property division.

Underwriter Nick Losquardo is also staffing the new office.

Fritz Koehler joined BancorpSouth Insurance Services Inc. as managing director of its Houston office. BancorpSouth purchased Koehler’s book of business from his agency Fritz Koehler Insurance & Risk Management and selected him to head the Houston operations.

With more than 15 years of experience, Koehler’s expertise lies in risk management and property and casualty insurance.

CNA Financial Corp. appointed David Linhardt as vice president of its Oklahoma and Arkansas branches. Linhardt is responsible for synchronizing branch operations with CNA’s strategic goals for long-term success, including increasing local authority at the point of sale and improving service to agents and brokers in these territories.

Linhardt has a 20-year insurance career that reflects a consistent record of success in underwriting, as well as relationship and field management. He joins CNA from The Travelers Insurance Co., where he served as regional director of field management for its Midwest region. Prior to that, he held leadership roles with St. Paul Fire & Marine, Marsh Inc., Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., and W.R. Berkley Companies.

Crump Insurance Services Inc. expanded its production team in Dallas by hiring Deana Crowson. Crowson has joined the Crump Dallas office as vice president – Property and Casualty broker.

A former Crump employee, she returns after spending the past 12 years at Swett & Crawford as a commercial broker for in-house general liability, property, and excess facilities.

With more than 30 years of commercial property and casualty experience, Crowson brings extensive expertise to the Dallas team. She specializes in general liability, environmental, products, aviation, and trucking excess placements.

Dallas insurance brokerage firm Holmes Murphy & Associates has added two well-known industry leaders in its ACAP Health Consulting division. Dr. Scott Conard will serve as chief medical officer and David Toomey is a principal.

Dr. Conard brings more than two decades of extensive medical experience to Holmes Murphy’s team with his past experiences as a medical doctor, business executive, physician leader and medical researcher.

Prior to joining Holmes Murphy, Dr. Conard was chief medical and strategy officer of Medical Edge, leading a group of dedicated clinicians caring for over one million patients.

Toomey has nearly 25 years of extensive healthcare expertise in addressing the fragmentation and gaps within the healthcare system. Prior to joining ACAP Health, Toomey was central region president and general manager, North Texas and Oklahoma of CIGNA.

Toomey also worked at Aetna for nearly 20 years where he led its National Accounts division in Seattle for eight western states. His work with Virginia Mason Health System was featured in the Wall Street Journal in 2006. As principal, he will be leading the clinical care engineering work for ACAP Health, which focuses on improving the processes tied to the clinical products offered by physicians and hospitals for employers.

NAIW (International) recently elected and installed new Executive Committee members for 2011-2012.

President Joi Wilson is a vice president with Star Risk Services Inc., a member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Group. The agency writes property and casualty, as well as life and health insurance. Wilson is licensed as a property and casualty and life/health agent in most of the 50 states.

Vice President Penny Haworth-Rich is office manager for a branch office of Philadelphia Insurance Co. in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Vice President Jane Densch is a Claims Auto/General Liability Product director with Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co.

Secretary Rosalyn Horton is underwriting manager for the Small Business Unit in AGCS Marine Insurance Co.’s Southern States Region.

In addition, the group named Nancy J. Fournier (Region IV) as Risk Management Professional of the Year and Kimberly D. Shattuck (Region III) as Rookie of the Year.

IAS Claim Services in San Antonio added two new employees in its Third Party Administration (TPA) and Claims divisions.

Tony Scow is now vice president of IAS TPA Services. With more than 25 years in claims services for the property and casualty industry, Scow will lead IAS’ expansion plans for its TPA division. He will direct a multi-state TPA offering to insurers, corporations and public entities.

JoAnne Castillo will serve as TPA manager and will work alongside Scow in meeting current client needs and assist in managing the division’s growth.

Additionally, Tina Bowling was promoted to regional manager in the Claims division. She has been instrumental in managing significant growth with new and existing accounts in the North and Central Regions.

Elizabeth Quye was added as senior claims supervisor in the San Antonio headquarters.

The Claims division also promoted Darlene Torres to accounts receivable director and Krystala Cross to executive assistant.

Topics Texas Agencies Claims Workers' Compensation Louisiana Property Property Casualty Casualty Human Resources