People – West

GEICO has named Greg Jacobi assistant vice president of underwriting in its San Diego, Calif., regional office.

Previously, Jacobi served as assistant vice president of underwriting for the company’s Dallas regional office. He succeeds Frankie Silva, who will lead underwriting at GEICO’s Lakeland, Fla., regional operation.

Jacobi joined GEICO as an insurance counselor in 1993, then worked in education and training in GEICO’s Woodbury, N.Y., regional office before becoming a service administrator. He then managed operational services and planning and control in Woodbury before being promoted in 2004 to sales and service director for GEICO’s Buffalo regional operation.

GEICO is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies.

Los Angeles, Calif.-based Topa Insurance Co. has named Tina Epstein Abrams a commercial wholesale brokerage team leader.

As team leader, Abrams leads the underwriting teams in property/casualty.

Abrams has more than 30 years of experience, mainly in the excess and surplus writing areas, as well as brokerage and facultative reinsurance experience. Prior to Topa she was at Endurance and Colony Specialty. She also chairs the Surplus Line Association of California’s education and compliance committee.

Topa, which recently expanded to a production underwriting model, is a P/C insurer offering comprehensive business and personal insurance, as well as specialty program insurance.

Hub International Ltd. added Robert Jellen to Hub’s Los Angeles, Calif.-based entertainment practice.

Hub also added Seth Cohen, vice president, and Dany Rodriguez, account executive, to round out Jellen’s Los Angeles-based entertainment team.

Jellen has more than 40 years of experience providing insurance solutions for studios, television networks, independent filmmakers, Fortune 500 advertisers and advertising agencies.

Chicago, Ill.-based Hub provides property/casualty, life and health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services through offices located in North America.

Leavitt Group of Boise named Stephanie Barnes a commercial account manager in Idaho.

Barnes has 26 years of experience. She specializes in insurance for municipalities, professional offices, retail operations, construction and those in the service industry.

Barnes has assisted in developing 13 new independent agencies over her career.

Leavitt Group is a privately-held insurance brokerage.

Wells Fargo Insurance named Steve Anderson managing director for the San Francisco Bay Area region.

Anderson will lead business development, cross-sell, and sales for Wells Fargo’s four insurance offices. He is based in San Francisco, and will report to Sam Elliott, regional managing director for Wells Fargo Insurance’s West region.

A 15-year company veteran, Anderson joins Wells Fargo Insurance from the Wells Fargo Corporate Banking group, where he was division head and executive vice president of the West region. Previously, he was regional vice president for the Pacific Northwest. Anderson also held leadership positions at Bank of America and Security Pacific Merchant Bank prior to joining Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo Insurance is part of Wells Fargo & Co.

IFG Cos. named Michael R. Denton executive managing director in property.

Denton is based in IFG’s Irvine, Calif., office. He assumes responsibility for leading and managing the brokerage property division while also overseeing property products for commercial underwriting and bind property.

Denton has 27 years of experience. He began his career at the Hartford Insurance Group. He moved into reinsurance at USF Re, where he had a variety of leadership posts.

In 1996, Denton joined General Star Management Co. In 2001, he assumed responsibility for General Star’s nationwide property brokerage unit and was senior vice president of Property Brokerage. After General Star, he worked for Argo Group International Holdings Ltd. as a senior vice president of U.S. property.

IFG provides property/casualty insurance on both a non-admitted basis and an admitted basis.

San Diego, Calif.-based ICW Group Insurance Cos. in California has named Danny Engell vice president of enterprise strategic planning and analytics.

In this newly created position Engell will report to President and CEO Kevin Prior. He will be responsible for driving analytics and business intelligence.

Engell started with the company as an actuarial analyst in 2005, and has since held several leadership roles. He was previously vice president of workers’ compensation underwriting.

ICW Group actively writes primary workers’ comp insurance in 12 states, along with incidental coverage in 34.