People – Southeast

Raymond Farmer is staying on to lead South Carolina’s Department of Insurance. Farmer said he was asked by Gov. Nikki Haley to stay on in the position he’s held since 2012.

Farmer took over nearly a year after the agency’s last director, David Black, resigned. Haley said it took so long to fill the role because she wanted to hire someone from the private sector, but found it difficult to attract the right candidate who was willing to take a government salary.

Farmer retired as Southeast vice president at the American Insurance Association. Haley said that Farmer is committed to making the insurance agency consumer friendly while keeping the state friendly to businesses.

German insurance giant Allianz announced a new team that will lead the combined Fireman’s Fund and Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty North American business in 2015. Andrew Torrance, president and CEO of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. (FFIC), has stepped down, handing over this role to Art Moossmann, a member of the Board of Management of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE (AGCS) with responsibility for North America.

Moossmann will take on dual responsibility for both FFIC and AGCS North America (AGCS NA), as president and CEO of both organizations.

Hugh Burgess, AGCS NA’s CEO, became AGCS’s Global Head of Mid-Corporate effective Jan. 1, as previously announced.

In September, AGCS and FFIC announced the integration of their commercial P/C businesses in the U.S. to create one market under the Allianz brand. This took effect Jan. 1, 2015, with the transition to the Allianz brand taking place over the course of 2015.

In December, Allianz announced it is selling the FFIC Personal Insurance business to ACE Insurance, spelling the likely end to the well-known brand name.

Kathleen Zortman, president of FFIC Personal Insurance, will continue to be responsible for the Personal Insurance division in the new organization, reporting directly to Moossmann. Kevin Walker will remain as chief financial officer for Fireman’s Fund reporting to Moossmann during the transition period while also taking over as head of Allianz Runoff Management US and CEO of SF Re. Randy Renn, AGCS NA’s CFO, will afterwards step into the role of CFO for the combined AGCS/FFIC North American business.

Henning Haagen becomes global head of AGCS’s Aviation and Paul O’Neill becomes global head of Marine & Energy, taking over the responsibilities for the Americas from Joe Strickland and John Barnwell respectively, both of whom join the new AGCS NA leadership team in new roles. Entertainment will also become a new global line of business for AGCS Specialty under the leadership of Lauren Bailey, vice president of Entertainment for FFIC.

Hub International Southeast has hired Kip Bouknight as a sales executive. Bouknight will be responsible for developing new business opportunities. He is based in Hub’s Columbia, South Carolina, office.

Most recently, Bouknight served as a producer at Federated Insurance Co. in Columbia, where he was responsible for sales of commercial property/casualty and employee benefits. Prior to his position at Federated Insurance, Bouknight was a pitcher with several professional baseball teams including the Somerset Patriots, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals, Toronto Blue Jays, and Colorado Rockies for nearly a decade. He also ran a professional pitching instruction firm.

Greenville, South Carolina-based Canal Insurance has named Jarrell Hall, assistant vice president for marketing and business development, and Linda Lewis, assistant vice president for casualty claims, to its leadership team.

Hall assumes responsibility for all marketing activities and development of general agent relationships. He joins Canal from CNA, where he spent four years with the excess liability and umbrella underwriting unit in Alabama. Prior to CNA, he spent 19 years with Chubb, in both marketing and underwriting.

Lewis takes over commercial auto and general liability claims and special investigations. Prior to joining Canal, she worked for Travelers for seven years as the Atlanta claim center field product line manager, and for Safeco in claims leadership roles for nearly 20 years.

Canal specializes in insurance for commercial trucking and specialty transportation.

IFG Cos. in Burlington, North Carolina, has hired Tiffany Riggins Fann as vice president in its Excess and Umbrella division.

Fann will be based in IFG’s Atlanta office. Fann brings 15 years of specialty casualty underwriting, marketing and management experience.

She comes from Zurich North America where she was a branch manager, leading a team of excess and umbrella underwriters in Atlanta and Orlando, Florida.

Prior to Zurich, Fann worked as senior underwriter at Navigators Management Co. Before that, she worked for Markel Corp. for 10 years in underwriting and management positions. Earlier in her career, she was excess casualty underwriter at American Home Assurance Co.

Topics South Carolina Allianz