People & Places

National

WTW appointed three former Aon executives to roles within its financial institutions and professional services industry division, a part of Corporate Risk and Broking (CRB) North America.

Heather Mann, based in Miami, joins WTW from Aon, where she spent the previous 23 years, most recently serving as an executive vice president.

Larry Trombino, an attorney by training, is based in New York City. He spent the last 16 years at Aon, most recently serving as a senior vice president in the financial institutions space.

Jeanette Younger, based in San Francisco, also joins WTW from Aon, where she spent the previous eight years. She most recently serving as a vice president, focused on developing E&O insurance programs for large financial institutions and their insurance agents, registered representatives and investment advisors.

Zurich North America appointed James Bracken chief financial officer, succeeding Peter Hirs, who returns to Zurich Insurance Group as group head of mergers and acquisitions.

Bracken was previously chief executive officer at Fortitude Re and CFO at AIG General Insurance. Prior to AIG, he worked in global finance and audit at GE Insurance, GE Capital and Arthur Andersen & Co.

Bracken is based at Zurich North America’s headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Ryan Specialty Holdings revealed a handful of executive moves after announcing the retirement of founder Patrick G. Ryan.

Edward F. McCormack has been named chief executive officer of RT Specialty. McCormack is currently president of the wholesale brokerage — a role he has held since 2016. He joined RT Specialty in 2010 and has served as chief operating officer and general counsel.

Brenda (Ballard) Austenfeld and Michael T. VanAcker will become co-presidents of RT Specialty.

Austenfeld, who joined RT with its acquisition of Westrope in 2013, is now CEO and president of RT National Property. She will continue in this role.

VanAcker is currently executive vice president of RT Specialty. He began with Ryan Specialty in 2011.

The new roles take effect on October 1, the same day Timothy W. Turner takes over as CEO of Ryan Specialty Holdings. Jeremiah R. Bickham will become president and Janice M. Hamilton will take over as CFO.

Chubb made several executive leadership changes in its North American general insurance business, naming John Lupica executive chairman.

Lupica was vice chairman of Chubb Group and president of North American insurance. In his new role, Lupica will have executive oversight, including strategy, governance and attention to major issues, of Chubb’s general insurance business in North America.

Juan Luis Ortega succeeds Lupica as president of the North American business. Ortega was executive vice president of Chubb Group and president of Chubb’s overseas general insurance unit.

Scott Meyer, senior vice president of Chubb Group and division president of Chubb’s wholesale excess and surplus lines company Westchester, is named to the new position of chief operating officer of North America insurance.

Christopher Maleno, senior vice president of Chubb Group, has been appointed vice chairman, North America insurance. He will retain his current responsibilities as division president, North America field operations.

East

Wesley G. Marshall has been elected to a three-year term as chairman of the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission (VWC).

He succeeds Commissioner Robert A. Rapaport, whose term ended June 30, 2024.

Marshall, of Richmond, was appointed to the commission in 2012. He also served a term as chairman from 2015-2018.

From 1988 to 2012, he was an attorney in private practice, primarily representing plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, employment matters, and other civil litigation.

Tony Martinez has been appointed to the new position of chief information officer for Unison Risk Advisors (URA) Inc., the parent company for Baltimore-based RCM&D, Oswald Companies of Cleveland and Miami-based NSI Insurance.

He will lead all technology resources throughout the Unison Risk Advisors portfolio.

Martinez comes to URA with 25 years of global IT management experience.

Joe Engbert joined Alliant Insurance Services as senior vice president within its Alliant Americas division. Based in Washington D.C., Engbert will focus on designing, implementing and managing property/casualty insurance programs across a wide range of industries.

Before joining Alliant, Engbert was partner, senior vice president, at USI Insurance Services. He previously served as assistant vice president at AHT Insurance and as an account manager at Lockton Companies.

Alliant is headquartered in Irvine, California.

Insurance broker The IMA Group, headquartered in Tarrytown, New York, named Matt High as executive vice president of evaluation services operations and Elijah Marentette as vice president of payer services.

High, a seasoned healthcare and workers’ compensation executive, brings over two decades of industry expertise. He most recently served as senior vice president of operations at One Call. He has also held leadership positions within the Aetna/Coventry Workers’ Compensation organization.

Before joining IMA, Marentette was the chief operating officer of Impact Health. He has also held senior executive positions leading products and divisions at Coventry, myMatrixx and Concentra.

Geospatial technology and analytics firm EagleView, headquartered in Rochester, New York, hired Jenna Kinsman as vice president of enterprise growth for its insurance business.

Kinsman most recently worked at Hosta.ai, serving as chief revenue officer. She began her career as a property claims adjuster at Farmers Insurance in 2011.

She also served as national enterprise account leader at Enservio, senior sales executive, and one of the founding members of the insurance team at HOVER Inc., and vice president of sales at Westhill.

South Central

Higginbotham named Mary Russell president, Private Client Services.

Russell is a long-time executive team member and former chief operating officer, Personal Insurance, at Fort Worth, Texas-based Higginbotham.

This move marks the final division of the president title that Higginbotham Chairman and CEO Rusty Reid has held since 1989 into three separate division titles, with Chris Rooker as president, Business Insurance; Michael Parks as president, Financial Services and Employee Benefits; and Russell as president, Private Client Services.

In her new role as president, Russell will provide top executive coordination while overseeing operations throughout the division, leading a dedicated team that serves more than 44,000 individual clients across the 17-state Higginbotham footprint.

IMA Financial Group, an independent insurance brokerage and risk management consulting firm, named Jordyn Arons Rosen as its new Dallas Market president.

Arons Rosen succeeds insurance industry veteran Robert Broz, who played a pivotal role in the success of IMA’s Dallas office.

In her former role as IMA’s national practice director of Private Equity and M&A,

Arons Rosen supported clients through complex M&A transactions and lender diligence.

As market president, Arons Rosen will oversee strategic direction and operational execution for the Dallas market, which is among the largest and most robust in IMA’s current market portfolio.

Watkins Insurance Group announced that Patrick Watkins has been awarded the distinguished Drex Foreman Award by the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT). This prestigious accolade recognizes exemplary leadership and significant contributions to the insurance industry.

As CEO and majority shareholder, Watkins is credited for spearheading numerous initiatives to enhance client engagement, streamline operations, and foster a culture of continuous improvement at Austin-based Watkins Insurance Group.

Incline P&C Group, headquartered in Austin, Texas, appointed Scott Galiardo as chief actuary and chief underwriting officer for commercial and specialty lines, and Tony Urban as chief development officer.

In this newly created role, Galiardo will develop Incline P&C Group’s Actuarial function and lead efforts to build the specialty book and other future commercial insurance. He joins from Sompo International, where he most recently served as ceded reinsurance officer.

Urban also will continue as chief underwriting officer for all personal lines. He will focus particularly on Incline’s entrance into the E&S market.

Southeast

CRC Group, a wholesale specialty distributor, added Joseph Carothers in Tampa, Florida, as senior team leader.

He previously spent eight years in underwriting with another wholesale brokerage.

Craig Brown also was named a team leader in CRC’s Tampa office.

He has two decades of industry experience in claims handling and product management.

CRC Group also added Craig Anderson and Joyce Carlton in Florida.

Anderson, who has been in the insurance business for more than 25 years, is now an underwriting team leader for marine business, based in the Tampa-Bayport office.

Previously, Anderson was a wholesale yacht and marine underwriter with a wholesale brokerage.

Carlton joined the Tampa-Bayport operations as an underwriting team leader. She also was previously with a wholesale brokerage.

In Georgia, Alliant Insurance Services named Tammi Starkey senior vice president and producer for its employee benefits group for the company’s Southeast region. Starkey is a certified pharmacy benefits specialist and was previously a senior vice president at a global consulting firm.

Alliant Insurance Services is headquartered in Irvine, California.