People – Southeast

The Inland Marine Underwriters Association (IMUA) elected a new slate of officers and board members during its 83rd annual meeting recently in Atlanta.

Swiss Re America’s senior vice president of Property/Casualty Peter Opinante, who has served as IMUA’s chairman for the past year, was inaugurated for a second term.

Also elected to serve a second term were Deputy Chairperson Michelle Hoehn, who is vice president of inland marine product and underwriting at The Travelers Group, and Vice Chairman William Rosa, who is vice president and Eastern regional manager at XL Reinsurance.

IMUA also elected the board of directors Class of 2015, which includes James Cunningham from Markel Group, Diane Shelton from Catlin U.S. and Grace Thomas from Great American. Directors elected to fill vacancies to the Class of 2015 are Sheila O’Keeffe from Gen Re, Joseph Rich from Liberty Mutual and Michelle Sipple from the American International Group. Tim Brockett from Munich Re America will fill a vacancy in the Class of 2014.

Also re-elected at the 83rd annual meeting were IMUA’s President/CEO Kevin O’Brien and Vice President/Secretary Lillian Colson.

IMUA is the national association for the commercial inland marine insurance industry.

Sloan Mason, a San Diego, Calif.-based wholesale insurance broker and managing general agency, has opened a new office in Jackson, Mississippi. The company specializes in energy, environmental and marine business. Trey Day, who has previous experience in the energy and marine field on the retail agency side, will head the new office. Principal Paul Mason said the new Mississippi office is the first of several in Sloan Mason’s plan to expand throughout the country.

Philadelphia Insurance Companies hired Ziad Kubursi as senior vice president of specialty lines and Karen Votta as vice president of large accounts for commercial lines.

Kubursi will lead the company’s management and professional liability division, which includes cyber security liability, non-profit directors and officers liability, and media liability products. Kubursi brings to his post 15 years of experience, including 10 years at Chartis and AIG in various positions. He also worked at Marsh & McLennan as vice president for financial products.

Votta will focus on account management for the large account portfolio of commercial lines business, initially centering on human and public services. Votta brings 20 years of experience to her new role, including nine years with Chartis and AIG in various casualty positions. She also worked at ACE as vice president for primary and excess casualty.

Willis North America announced a series of appointments to its Personal Lines Practice, which includes 250 private client and personal insurance professionals in the U.S. and Canada. Willis said the appointments are in line with the retirement of Sandra Bravo, national practice leader and CEO, Willis Personal Lines.

Tyler Banks has been appointed national practice leader and CEO, Willis Personal Lines. Banks joined Willis in 2012 as Western region leader and prior to that he served as sales leader for Marsh Private Client Services in California. He is based in Irvine, California.

Kim Connell has been appointed chief operating officer, Willis Personal Lines, responsible for the day-to-day operations. Connell joined Willis in 2012, as vice president, Willis Personal Lines and has 30 years of experience. Prior to joining Willis, she served as senior director of Personal Insurance Marketing, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. She is based in Dallas.

Rounding out the Willis Personal Lines leadership team are Max Gilman, West region leader, based in San Francisco, and Mike Smerkanich, East region leader, based in Morristown, N.J. Each brings 25 years of experience to the role. They will report to Banks.