People – West

Renton, Wash.-based Bell-Anderson Agency Inc. named Jason Webb, Matthew Heikkala and Jennifer Lutz as senior vice presidents of sales.

Webb is a member of the agency’s leadership committee. He came to Bell in 2006 from a life insurance company.

Heikkala specializes in employee benefits. He joined Bell-Anderson in 2004 and previously worked with a national brokerage.

Lutz heads up the agency’s surety department. Lutz came to Bell-Anderson in 2004.

Bell-Anderson has six offices across Washington.

Brandon Nyberg has joined The Leavitt Group’s Tacoma office.

Nyberg specializes in employee benefits for companies of all sizes. His insurance experience includes working with self-funded groups with more than 100 employees.

Prior to his work in insurance, Nyberg was a commercial mortgage lender and a financial sales manager in Seattle. He also worked as a commercial pilot.

The Leavitt Group is a privately-held insurance brokerage that offers a wide range of insurance programs.

Swett & Crawford, part of Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford, named Jeff Bianchi as sales leader for its Woodland Hills, Calif., office.

Bianchi will continue to be based in Swett’s San Francisco office and will remain a broker in the property practice group. Bianchi’s main responsibilities include leading the sales process and growth of the Woodland Hills office.

Bianchi, who has been with Swett Crawford for 14 years, began his insurance career with The Hartford in 1995 as an underwriter, later moving to Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co.

Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford is based in Atlanta, Ga.

San Diego, Calif.-based Barney & Barney has promoted five senior executives to principals of the firm.

The new principals, all of whom are based in California, are: Sara Bennett, an executive in the property/casualty group in San Diego; Nicole Mehrara, an executive in the employee benefits practice in San Diego; John Whalley and David Nava, executives in the firm’s employee benefits practice in Orange County; and Sean Reddy, an executive in the property/casualty group in Orange County.

Bennett joined Barney & Barney’s property/casualty division in 2003 and specializes in workers’ compensation and risk management.

Mehrara joined Barney & Barney in 2008 in the employee benefits division and specializes in employee benefit needs for small businesses.

Whalley joined Barney & Barney’s employee benefits division in 2011 and specializes in the private equity and food services industries.

Nava joined Barney & Barney in 2008 in the employee benefits practice and has more than 14 years of experience.

Reddy joined Barney & Barney in 2005 in the property/casualty group and has 12 years of experience.

In 2014, Barney & Barney was acquired by Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, a subsidiary of Marsh Inc.

David J. Snowball has been named the new director for the Utah Insurance Department’s captive division.

Snowball replaces Ross Elliott, who is set to retire at the end of the month.

Snowball joined the division in July 2010.

Before that Snowball owned an income tax preparation business, which included five offices and 50 employees. He also previously was a comptroller for a construction company.