People: Universal, Lockton, Crawford Name New Executives

Soleimani, Luther and Ropiecki Elevated at Universal

Universal Insurance Holdings, parent company of Florida’s largest private insurance carrier, announced the appointment of three people to key positions.

Arash Soleimani, who was formerly executive vice president and director of investor relations at Heritage Insurance Holdings, was named chief strategy officer at Universal. Rob Luther, Universal’s vice president of corporate development and investor relations, has been elevated to chief investment officer.

Gary Ropiecki, the senior VP and controller at Universal, has been made principal accounting officer, Universal said in a news release.

Lockton Names Evancho for SE Aviation Practice

Lockton, a national provider of insurance, benefits and financial services, has named Nick Evancho vice president and senior account executive in the firm’s Southeast aviation practice, based in Atlanta.

Evancho joins Chris Latta in Atlanta and Carl Shephard in London, who were appointed to the aviation group earlier this month, Lockton said in a statement. Evancho, a licensed pilot, began his career in 2006 at AIG.

Latta was named vice president and account executive. He joins Lockton from Starr Aviation, where he recently was assistant vice president, Northeast U.S. He has more than a decade of experience in aviation underwriting.

Crawford Claims Bart as International CEO

Crawford & Co., one of the world’s largest publicly traded providers of claims management and outsourcing for brokers, carriers and corporations, has named Andrew Bart CEO of international operations.

The move comes after a restructuring at the Atlanta-based Crawford, the company said in a news release. Bart has been with Crawford for 18 years, recently as CEO in Australia and the Pacific region. Prior to moving into management, he worked as an adjuster on large and complex claims for property, mining, business interruption, product liability and product tamper claims. He will now focus on international growth for the company.

Regional executives will now report directly to Bart. These include Lisa Bartlett, UK and Ireland; Veronica Grigg in Asia; Tim Jarman, Australia; Roberto McQuattie, Latin America; and Charlotte Von Krogh in Europe.