People – South Central

Dallas-based managing general agency, Arcana Insurance Services, named Gary Kirkindoll as chief business development officer.

Kirkindoll will oversee development of the company’s customer base in the credit union financial services space. He has more than 25 years of experience in business development and executive management working with lenders.

Prior to joining Arcana, he served as president and chief executive officer for Texans Financial/Texans Insurance Group. Before that, he was a vice president for CUNA Mutual Group and general manager of Members General Agency.

Ronald Hall was appointed regional vice president for Liberty Mutual Insurance’s Arkansas/Oklahoma territory.

Hall will be based in Oklahoma City and is responsible for the profitable growth and diversification of business insurance market segments across this two-state territory. Working with the company’s appointed agents and brokers, Hall will manage local underwriting and field personnel that provides a single point of access to a broader product line for businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees, including specialty lines and access to coverage at national and international accounts.

Prior to this appointment, Hall was assistant vice president of underwriting for South Texas and Louisiana, and previously was senior underwriting manager for four states, including Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Clarissa A. Preston, former head of the Office of Consumer Advocacy for the Louisiana Department of Insurance and the department’s first deputy commissioner, joined the law firm of Adams and Reese in Baton Rouge as a lobbyist and member of the governmental relations team.

In her 15 years of insurance experience, Preston worked as a regulator, as an insurance company producer and as a consumer advocate. She has both regulatory and industry-recognized insurance designations and is a licensed multi-line insurance producer.

Preston holds both a property and casualty and life and health insurance license in Louisiana. She also holds Associate Professional in Insurance Regulation (APIR) designation through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) Designation with The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research.

Mike Becker has been promoted to vice president of Federal Affairs for the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA).

Becker will head PIA’s lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill, direct the annual PIA National Federal Legislative Summit and be the lead liaison to the association’s Government Affairs Committee. He will also serve as treasurer of the Professional Insurance Agents Political Action Committee (PIAPAC) and as a board member of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

Becker began his career at PIA in March 2007, rising to assistant vice president of Federal Affairs prior to his new assignment. Prior to joining PIA, he worked on the congressional relations team for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), an organization representing pharmaceutical companies. He joined CHPA in 2004 after a stint as a legislative staffer on Capitol Hill.

Bob Stone has joined Align General Insurance Agency Inc. (Align) as vice president, specialty commercial division. He is based in Dallas.

Stone will underwrite and market commercial contractor’s insurance through selected wholesalers on behalf of the company. He has more than 40 years’ underwriting experience and is the former head of casualty brokerage at RLI.

Align Financial Group LLC is headquartered in San Diego, Calif., and owns Align General Insurance Agency LLC., Public Livery Insurance Services Inc., E.L.M Insurance Brokers Inc. and Align Claims Services Inc.

Personable General Insurance Agency Inc. added Mark Sokola as vice president of its Claims Central unit. He is based in Royse City, Texas.

Sokola is an experienced claims manager with a consistent history of improving customer service and closing claims cases faster, saving in legal fees and company time.

Personable is a general agency and specialist program underwriting manager established in 2011 and headquartered in San Diego, Calif.

David Richard will assume the position of president of Louisiana-based F.A. Richard and Associates (FARA), a member of the York Risk Services Group Inc. (York).

FARA provides insurance and risk management services to carriers, self-insured companies and groups, and government entities with a geographic emphasis on the southeast region.

Richard will be responsible for advancing FARA’s long standing partnerships with clients in Louisiana and across the southeast region. He also holds the position of senior vice president – information technology and systems for York.

Prior to his leadership role at York, Richard served for 22 years as the senior vice president and chief technology officer of FARA Insurance Services.

Simon Bancroft has joined Dallas, Texas-based Southwest Risk LP (SWR) as a senior property broker.

Bancroft started his career in the London market in 1977. In 1980, he relocated to the United States and managed the Swett & Crawford office in Dallas until 2008. His expertise includes layered property, real estate, hospitality, utilities and energy.

Southwest Risk is a specialty lines insurance broker for high-hazard business exposures. The company delivers customized property and casualty coverage for the real estate, construction, energy and manufacturing industries.

Lockton Companies named Sheri Wilson national property claim director to advise Lockton clients on complex property insurance claims. She is based in Dallas, Texas.

Wilson has more than 20 years of experience in property insurance claims. Before joining Lockton Companies, she was an executive general adjuster for Engle Martin & Associates in Dallas. She also has worked as a senior property insurance claim adjuster at FM Global, and was senior vice president of Property Claims at Marsh, a senior manager at Ernst & Young, and managing director at Crawford Technical Services.

Topics Texas Louisiana Oklahoma