People – West

Oregon Insurance Commissioner Lou Savage is leaving the Insurance Division to work on legal reform in emerging democracies overseas after nearly two years at the post.

Laura Cali, the division’s chief actuary and manager of product regulation, will replace him. Savage was initially appointed as a temporary replacement to head the division, then agreed to serve in the permanent position a year ago.

The division hired Cali in mid-2011 as a casualty actuary specializing in workers’ compensation and medical malpractice. She was a consulting actuary for Towers Watson in San Francisco, and she started her career at Liberty Mutual’s home office in Boston, building rating models for workers’ compensation and general liability lines of business.

Savage and Cali are working together to ensure a smooth transition to new leadership and a consistent approach to insurance regulation, including rate review. Insurance companies recently filed proposed rates for small employer and individual health plans that take effect in 2014. The division will make rate decisions by the first week of July, a project Savage wanted to complete before leaving.

The Insurance Division has an annual budget of roughly $11 million and a staff of nearly 100 and is part of the Department of Consumer and Business Services.

Swett & Crawford’s property/casualty underwriting department has added Wilma LaVoie in the firm’s Honolulu, Hawaii office as senior underwriter.

Swett & Crawford also named Shelbi Nicholson as a property broker to its property practice group in Seattle, Wash.

LaVoie has 15 years of underwriting experience. She joins the firm from Hawaii Employers’ Mutual Insurance Co., where she spent her time as a commercial lines underwriter. Previous experience includes serving as a relationship specialist with Aon Risk Services of Hawaii and an assistant underwriter with Island Insurance.

Nicholson has more than 20 years of insurance experience with primary, excess and quota share placement experience.

Nicholson began in insurance as a property underwriter with Commonwealth Insurance Co., and later was a senior property underwriter with Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. In recent years, Nicholson worked as a property broker and then as a property specialist with Ultra Risk Advisors Inc.

Atlanta, Ga.-based Swett & Crawford serves independent agents and brokers through specialized property/casualty, oil & gas/energy, professional services, transportation, reinsurance, marine and underwriting practice groups as well as the newly added accident and health division.

Robert Jordan has joined the Southern California operations of Lockton Insurance Brokers as health risk solutions consultant.

Jordan has nearly 20 years of experience, including corporate human resources, risk management and business leadership.

Lockton Insurance Brokers is the Southern California operation of Kansas City, Mo.-based Lockton Cos.

Edgewood Partners Insurance Center added Joe Cotugna as a property/casualty insurance producer in its Inland Empire Division in Southern California.

Cotugna’s responsibilities will include the acquisition of new clients as well as the design, placement and management of risk management and P/C programs. He reports to Dan Ryan, managing principal of EPIC’s Inland Empire Division.

Cotugna has 23 years of experience in risk management, with a focus on the food industry and construction. Prior to EPIC, Cotugna was a producer for Hays Cos. in Ontario. He began his career with the State Compensation Insurance Fund as a claims adjuster and sales representative, and he subsequently owned his own brokerage, and also served in management at a large regional brokerage.

EPIC has nine California offices: Los Angeles, Irvine, Ontario, Inland Empire, Folsom, San Francisco, San Mateo, Petaluma and San Ramon, as well as in Denver, Colo.

Topics California Hawaii