People

National

QBE Insurance Group appointed Julie Wood as Interim CEO North America upon the exit of former QBE NA CEO Todd Jones.

Wood joined QBE in January 2023 as group head of Distribution. She was previously at Marsh as Southeast Partnership and Zonal leader, and member of the U.S. Executive Committee. She also had served as Zonal Casualty leader at Marsh in Atlanta, and previously held senior executive roles at Zurich for 15 years.

Argo Group International Holdings named Greg Chilson president of Argo Surety.

Chilson has served as a strategic advisor to the business since May. He joins Argo from RLI Insurance Co. where he led the surety business and held various roles during his 27-year tenure.

Michael Conklin joined Ryan Specialty Holdings as executive vice president and chief human resources officer. He will be responsible for the firm’s overall people strategy, compensation and benefits, succession planning, as well as talent acquisition and management.

Conklin most recently served as EVP and chief human resources officer for WSFS Bank. He succeeds former chief HRO Lisa Paschal, who has retired.

Ryan Specialty appointed Kathy Guerville to chief underwriting officer of its underwriting management specialty, Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers.

Guerville has 15 years of insurance actuarial experience, including seven years with Ryan Specialty where she served in several roles, including senior actuary, actuarial director and deputy chief underwriting officer. Prior to joining Ryan Specialty, she was with Zurich Insurance Co.

Ryan Specialty is headquartered in Chicago.

Kristen Hunter joined AXIS Capital Holdings Limited, headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda, as head of its newly launched North America inland marine unit.

Previously, Hunter worked at Berkshire Hathaway, where she was vice president, marine and inland marine unit leader. Before that, she held senior underwriting roles in inland marine at Brit, XL Catlin, Hiscox and Firemanís Fund Insurance Co.

Hunter is joined by Ciara Nolan, Sinead O’Shea and Saoirse McNulty, who will serve underwriting roles and were previously part of Hunterís team at Berkshire Hathaway. Hunter, OíShea and McNulty are based in Boston, and Nolan is based in the AXIS New York, New York, office.

Cover Genius appointed David Rudow as its new chief financial officer (CFO).

Rudow has over 18 years of experience and previously served as CFO of the cloud-based technology company nCino. Other previous roles include senior vice president finance at CentralSquare Technologies and senior equity analyst and senior technology investment strategist at Thrivent Asset Management.

WTW appointed Paul Lubbers as head of U.S. Affinity & Programs within Corporate Risk and Broking (CRB).

Lubbers joins WTW with more than 20 years of industry experience, most recently serving as global client director for ServiceNow. He also spent 10 years at Aon, where he directed global Affinity segments and provided executive oversight for Aon Affinity’s startup around voluntary benefits, loyalty programs, and discount medical provider organization (DMPO) businesses. Additionally, Lubbers held leadership roles at McKinsey & Company and Allstate.

East

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., headquartered in Worcester, Mass., appointed Charles (Chip) F. Hamann president of small commercial.

Hamann has over 35 years of industry experience and has been with The Hanover since 2002. He previously served as the company’s deputy president and chief underwriting officer of small commercial.

Before joining The Hanover, Hamann held the role of president, small business at OneBeacon Insurance and vice president, commercial lines at Chubb Insurance.

Hamann succeeds Michael R. Keane, who has taken on a new role to focus on the companyís long-term strategy.

MMG Insurance Company, headquartered in Presque Isle, Maine, hired Julia Clukey as vice president of people and engagement/HR.

Clukey’s experience includes leadership positions at General Electric and WEX, as well as manager field recruiting and operations at Wayfair, senior director development and engagement of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, and director, talent development, VF Corporation.

Jennifer Carl has joined Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, as vice president within its employee benefits group in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Carl has more than a decade of experience working with self-funded clients. Before joining Alliant, Carl was a principal with Mercer and a project manager at Aon.

Insurance producer trade organization Big I Connecticut elected Robert Jones as chair of the board for the 2023-2024 term beginning Sept. 1.

Jones is the senior vice president of Fairfield County Bank Insurance Services LLC in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Jones has more than 35 years of insurance industry experience and is a former board member of Connecticut Insurance & Financial Services.

Big I Connecticut has also sworn in the following officers and directors for the 2023-2024 term: Immediate Past Chair and National Director Melissa Gatto from Shoff Darby Companies Inc., in Norwalk; Vice Chair and Secretary/Treasurer Danielle Brown from Double Eagle Insurance Agency in Fairfield; Director Jay Long from Gerardi Insurance in Putnam.; Director Steve Sadlak from Max Sadlak Agency Inc. in Vernon; Director Dan McNamara from V. F. McNeil & Company in Branford; Director Jason Guerrera from USI Insurance Services in Meriden.

Midwest

Shelter Insurance Cos. President and CEO Randa Rawlins is set to retire effective April 30, 2024.

Her successor, elected by the board of directors, Rockne Corbin, assumes the role of president on Jan. 1, 2024, and CEO on May 1, 2024.

Corbin is a 32-year employee of Shelter, with many of those in claims and reinsurance operations. Most recently, as executive vice president, he led the companies’ operations in claims, actuarial, underwriting, reinsurance and alternate channels.

Rawlins became president on Jan. 1, 2021, and added the CEO title on July 1, 2021. Her retirement will bring an end to her 22-year career with Shelter.

AXA XL, headquartered in Chicago, named Vito Raimondi head of its U.S. Central Zone.

Raimondi is based in Chicago and currently serves as chief operating officer of AXA XL’s client and distribution management. He joined AXA XL in 2013 to serve as chief operating officer of AXA XLís excess casualty business. He began his insurance career at Zurich Insurance Group Ltd.

South Central

Tim Temple will become Louisianaís next insurance commissioner after the only other candidate dropped out of the race for the statewide position.

Temple is a Baton Rouge Republican who spent two decades working in the insurance industry.

The position has been held by Jim Donelon for 17 years, but the 78-year- old Republican said in March that he would not seek reelection.

Bob Quillman joined Burns & Wilcox as regional vice president for Texas.

Quillman is responsible for the collective performance of the state’s three offices ó Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio. He is based in the Dallas/Ft. Worth office.

With more than 30 years of industry experience, Quillman most recently led national and regional sales teams at Kemper Insurance, where he was recognized for consistently delivering profit and growth goals while deepening relationships with clients in Texas and nationwide. He began his long-standing career began at State Farm as a commercial lines underwriter.

Burns & Wilcox said it is experiencing double-digit growth in 2023. Over the past year, the company onboarded more than 300 new hires and promoted 200 existing associates.

Socotra, based in Austin, Texas, hired Sonny Patel as chief product and technology officer.

She leads the company’s product and engineering teams alongside Product Architect Matt Hamilton, who leads Socotraís platform strategy and product design.

Patel has over 20 years of experience building and launching products at Fortune 500 companies, including Dell, Microsoft and Amazon.

Southeast

SBK Insurance, a subsidiary of Tennessee-based SmartBank, added Drew Vaughn in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as risk manager.

Led by CEO Mark Slater, SBK is an independent insurance agency that offers personal lines, commercial, life, health and transportation insurance products, and has offices in the Southeast.

West

Insurance Office of America added Jeffrey Breskin to its western division team.

Breskin has more than 35 years of experience in risk management, claims, safety, and workers’ compensation laws and regulations. He previously served as senior vice president, risk management at The J. Morey Company Inc., vice president at EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants, and director, workersí comp at Crystal & Company. He will be based out of the Encino, California, branch location.

Insurance Office of America is headquartered in Longwood, Florida.

Pie Insurance, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, appointed four new vice presidents to its leadership team.

Pie promoted Carla Woodard to vice president of claims. Woodard has more than 25 years of claims management experience, including most recently as director of claims at Pie. She previously spent 15 years at Employers Insurance as director of claims automation and workforce experience products.

Jaime Gilliam-Swartz was named vice president of customer service and operations. Gilliam-Swartz has more than 25 years of experience leading voice-of-customer programs, customer experience teams and shared service operations at companies like Eventbrite, Lyft, Intuit, GE and Accenture.

Arash Sadati was named vice president of data science. Sadati has more than 15 years of experience in the application of AI and machine learning, including his most recent role at GEICO.

Kris Bagchi was named vice president of reinsurance. Bagchi has more than 25 years of insurance industry experience, including nine years at TD Insurance/TD Bank in Canada.

Topics Texas Connecticut