People – Southeast

Scott Gunter has been appointed senior vice president, Chubb Group, and division president, North America Commercial Insurance.

In his new role, Gunter will have executive operating responsibility for the retail commercial property/casualty insurance business that serves the middle market in North America through 48 offices in the U.S. and Canada. His responsibilities encompass strategy, production, product development and management, and profit and loss performance.

Gunter, with more than 30 years of insurance industry experience at Chubb, most recently served as chief operating officer in Chubb’s North America Personal Risk Services division. Prior to the ACE acquisition of Chubb in January 2016, he served as Chubb Commercial Insurance global chief underwriting officer.

He will report to Paul Krump, executive vice president, Chubb Group president, North America Commercial and Personal Insurance.

Gunter succeeds Steven R. Pozzi who, after a 36-year career in the insurance industry, will retire at the end of this year. Pozzi joined The Chubb Corp. in 1981 as a commercial underwriter trainee, and during the course of his career, held a number of underwriting and managerial positions with the company.

Prior to the ACE acquisition, Pozzi was Chubb Commercial Insurance global chief operating officer, and since January 2016, he has played a key role as senior vice president of Chubb Group and Division president of North America Commercial Insurance for the combined organization.

The company said that through the remainder of 2017, Pozzi will be available to Gunter to ensure a successful transition, and he will also serve as an advisor on special projects for Chubb’s North America and Overseas General divisions.

QBE North America announced two executive appointments in the Property & Casualty business.

Jamie Luce will lead the Commercial Insurance business as senior vice president. He will oversee all of the QBE North America commercial business.

Luce built middle market business over the past 14 years with Liberty Mutual. In his most recent chief underwriting officer role, he was responsible for overseeing Liberty Mutual’s Business Insurance segment.

He spent his early career in various positions with Wausau Insurance Co., the Westfield Group and American International Group.

Based in New York, Luce will report to Kathleen O. Zortman, president, Property & Casualty.

Reporting to Luce will be Julie Hespe, who also recently joined QBE as a product leader for the company’s commercial portfolio. She is expected to help bolster the overall performance of commercial lines through enhanced performance analysis, while ensuring alignment with customer needs.

Hespe comes to QBE with program development and underwriting experience. She led program development and strategy as an executive vice president for the MGA and brokerage group, BlueSkyRisk. She has also held various leadership positions at AIG, AIG Environmental, Swiss Re and AIU International Environmental.

EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants has added Richard Duhe to the firm’s Southeast Employee Benefits Consulting Practice in Atlanta as a benefits consultant and director of EPIC MobileEZ.

Duhe has focused for 30 years on assisting clients in a wide range of industries with their health and welfare risk management needs, specializing in the assessment, design, implementation and management of medical cost containment and employee engagement programs.

Duhe’s experience includes development of mobile application strategies and digital media communication, as well as the identification, analysis and management of a broad spectrum of exposures and risks. He has extensive experience working with third party administrators, associations and pools.

Prior to joining EPIC, Duhe also developed the EPIC MobileEZ mobile application, a comprehensive digital media communication solution for employers and their mobile workforces.

As a consultant for EPIC’s Employee Benefits practice in the Southeast, Duhe will provide client service leadership, including overall strategy, coverage negotiation and the coordination and management of internal and external resources.

As director of EPIC MobileEZ, he will continue to implement risk mitigation, training, wellness and safety strategies within a mobile environment.

Duhe will also focus on relationship management and business development, bringing EPIC’s resources in employee benefits to clients across the region.

EPIC is a retail property and casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and consulting firm with offices across the U.S.

Reliance Partners has expanded its leadership team with the addition of veteran insurance professional Stephen Copeland as senior director of Customer Service.

Copeland has more than 20 years of industry experience, which includes independent agency management as the commercial lines manager of Southern Financial Insurance Group in Tallahassee, Fla., and in the direct writing market space where he worked for Sentry Insurance Company. He also has experience at Rogers, Gunter, Vaughn insurance as producer, personal lines manager, and marketing director and also as an independent agent specializing in farm insurance.

According to Reliance President and COO, Chad Eichelberger, Copeland will support Reliance’s current growth.

Reliance Partners is a commercial insurance agency with locations in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala.

Brentwood Services Administrators Inc. (BSA), headquartered in Brentwood, Tenn., promoted Courtney Wall in February 2017 to the position of medical-only claims representative in the Brentwood office, according to Jeff Pettus, president and CEO of BSA.

Wall is responsible for reviewing, processing and handling workers’ compensation claims as assigned by Lisa Whitten, claims supervisor for BSA. Wall determines the compensability of claims, processes medical bills and communicates directly with clients, employers, injured workers, physicians and attorneys.

Brentwood Services Administrators Inc. provides claims management and loss control services to employers and employer associations with self-insured and large deductible programs for workers’ compensation and other casualty lines throughout the contiguous 48 states.

Brightway Insurance has opened its first agency in South Carolina. Veteran insurance agent and now Brightway Agency owner, Gregory Dissel, opened the doors to Brightway, The Dissel Agency, on April 3.

While new to South Carolina, Brightway Insurance is the nation’s seventh largest privately held personal lines independent insurance agency.

Dissel, who was a top agent at another Brightway Agency, brings 10 years of experience and knowledge of the local market with him to his new role.

Dissel has experience in homeowners, auto, umbrella and flood insurance, and regularly works with loan officers and real estate agents to help their customers secure an insurance policy. Additionally, he has obtained licenses for life, health and annuities.

Brightway, The Dissel Agency, is located in Bluffton, S.C., and offers customized home, condo, renters, auto, flood, RV, motorcycle, boat, ATV and umbrella insurance policies from more than 30 insurance carriers.

Topics Chubb