Richard Knabb, the tropical weather expert at The Weather Channel, will be the next chief of the National Hurricane Center.
Knabb started working at the hurricane center in 2001. He was a senior hurricane specialist at the center from 2005 to 2008, experiencing what other longtime forecasters called “decades of hurricane activity in just a few years,” thanks to the overactive and devastating 2004 and 2005 seasons.
After leaving the hurricane center, Knabb served as the deputy director of the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. He joined The Weather Channel in 2010.
Knabb will replace Bill Read, who steps down as director June 1, the official start of the six-month Atlantic hurricane season.
The 2011 Atlantic hurricane season was the sixth consecutive year without the U.S. landfall of a major hurricane. Those are storms classified as Category 3 or higher, with top winds of at least 111 mph.
Guy Carpenter & Co. LLC, a global risk and reinsurance intermediary division of N.Y.-headquartered Marsh & McLennan Cos., appointed Andrew Marcell as chief executive officer of U.S. operations and Pete Chandler as chief operating officer of U.S. operations.
Additionally, Kevin Fisher has been named CEO of the firm’s global specialties, comprising Lloyds property, retrocession, marine, aviation and North American placement.
Colin Kiddie will continue as chairman of global specialties.
The new appointments follow the departure of Chris McKeown, who has been serving as Guy Carpenter’s CEO of North America broking operations. McKeown is joining Juniperus Capital, a Bermuda-based investment management firm focused on investing in insurance-related instruments.
As the newly named CEO of U.S. operations, Marcell is relocating to the firm’s New York City headquarters from London, where he has been serving as Guy Carpenter’s CEO of global practices and head of placement strategy since 2010. Prior to this role, he had been based in New York, where he had served as the firm’s CEO of Americas broking operations since 2008. Since joining Guy Carpenter in 1990, Marcell has held multiple roles within the organization, including leading Continental European operations, global business development and the global casualty specialty.
Marcell will continue leading Guy Carpenter’s global facultative business.
Chandler, before being appointed as COO for U.S. operations, was head of Guy Carpenter’s U.S. Eastern region. Prior to relocating to New York in 2011, Chandler had served as the head of the firm’s U.S. Western region. He joined Guy Carpenter in 2009.
Marsh & McLennan Cos. provides a wide range of insurance-related brokerage, consulting, and risk management services. Its businesses include Marsh, the insurance broker and risk advisor; Guy Carpenter, a risk and reinsurance specialist; Mercer, human resources and financial services provider; and Oliver Wyman, a management consultancy.
MarketScout, the national electronic insurance exchange and specialty MGA with headquarters in Dallas, announced that Kelly Hammett has joined MarketScout in the firm’s interactive marketing and exchange network division.
Hammett will work with the firm in further developing the online MarketScout Exchange. She will also coordinate MarketScout’s Entrepreneurial Insurance Symposium, a think tank held for insurance executives seeking innovative, new concepts in insurance underwriting, distribution and technology.
Hammett was previously with Eastdil Secured in Irvine, Calif., where she worked with the executive team on marketing strategies.
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