People and Places

Boston-based Risk Specialists Cos. Inc., a member company of American International Group Inc., has appointed David A. Jordan as chief operating officer. Jordan will continue as a senior vice president of Lexington Insurance Co. In this newly-created position at Risk Specialists Cos., which comprises Lexington’s field organization, Jordan’s responsibilities will encompass business development and broker relationships, operations and staffing, compliance, marketing and product development.

Prior to joining Risk Specialists, Jordan was senior vice president of Lexington’s Program Division.

MEMIC Indemnity Co. recently hired Paul Bureau and Bill O’Connor as safety management specialists within the company’s Safety and Loss Control department.

Bureau will lead safety and loss control efforts in MEMIC’s new Connecticut office and O’Connor will do the same in the new New York office.

Bureau’s most recent work experience includes 14 years at General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp. as chief of Industrial Hygiene and Safety. He has also served as adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut’s Center for Continuing Studies teaching credit courses in safety, industrial hygiene, ergonomics, and safety and health regulations.

O’Connor has spent the last eight years with Zurich North America as an ergonomist. Prior to this experience, O’Connor spent nearly 10 years working in a physical therapy environment. He specialized in returning people to work, injury prevention, and fraud prevention.

MEMIC Indemnity Co., based in Manchester, N.H., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maine Employers’ Mutual Insurance Co. The company added MEMIC Indemnity in 2000, and it is now expanding it into Conn. and N.Y.

Insurance broker Beecher Carlson has expanded its New York Executive Liability team with the addition of Frederick A. Ryder as managing director. Ryder will focus on business and client development for Executive Liability Products by leveraging his 36 years in the business.

Prior to joining Beecher Carlson, Ryder was the former vice chairman and chief operating officer of Marsh Inc.’s FINPRO U.S. practice. In that capacity, he also served as a senior advisor to many FINPRO clients, and most recently concentrated on settling complex D&O claims and litigation.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America named Cliston Brown as the organization’s director of federal public affairs. Brown comes to PCI after three years with the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America where he served as director of public affairs. Previously, he worked for two years as director of communications for U.S. Rep. Peter J. Visclosky, D-Ind., the current chairman of the Energy and Water Development subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations.

Burns & Wilcox, a national specialty insurance wholesaler, has added Jennifer Ebert in its Baltimore office as a senior commercial underwriter. Ebert will be responsible for marketing to agents, reviewing and underwriting new business, and providing risk management services to agents. Previously, Ebert worked for MIMS International Ltd., in Towson, Md.

Matthew Gardner has joined insurance broker Bollinger, Inc. as managing director of its Commercial Lines Division. He will operate out of the Short Hills, N.J., headquarters and will oversee commercial lines operations in all office locations as well as any future acquisitions.

Gardner comes to Bollinger from Commerce Banc Insurance Services, where he was senior vice president in charge of the Pennsylvania region and the Executive Risk and Surety Practices. Prior to that, he served with Aon Risk Services.

The Proformance Insurance Co., a subsidiary of National Atlantic Holdings Corp., has appointed Douglas A. Wheeler as general counsel. Wheeler joined the company in 2006 as vice president and also continues in that role. Prior to joining the company, he served as assistant commissioner and chief of staff of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. Wheeler also has several years of experience in private practice.

Harleysville Insurance has appointed Ronald Gorman as regional president of its Mid-Atlantic operation. In this position, he oversees the underwriting, agency management and support functions throughout the region — which is headquartered in Harleysville, Pa., where Gorman is based — and includes the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia.

Gorman spent the last 13 years with Zurich North America’s small business segment. Before Zurich, Gorman was associated with CIGNA Corp. for 14 years.

Harleysville also announced the recent appointment of Shelly Diegel as Mid-Atlantic regional vice president of commercial lines business development. In this role, she is responsible for commercial lines sales, marketing and field underwriting efforts throughout the region. She is located in Harleysville’s Chesapeake office in Owings Mills, Md.

Diegel served as vice president of national group partners for Zurich North America in Baltimore before coming to Harleysville. She also has held positions with St. Paul Travelers, USF&G and Maryland Casualty. She has 24 years of insurance industry experience.

Boston-based AIR Worldwide announced that Karen Clark, its founder, current president and chief executive officer, will assume the role of vice chairman of the board of AIR, effective April 15, 2007. S. Ming Lee, currently the company’s executive vice president, will succeed her as president and chief executive officer.

Clark is an internationally recognized expert in the field of catastrophe risk modeling. In 1987, she pioneered the probabilistic catastrophe modeling techniques that changed the way insurers, reinsurers and financial institutions manage their catastrophe risk.

Lee joined AIR in 1996 and has managed several departments over the past decade. He currently directs the operations of AIR’s Consulting and Software Services Group. Since the introduction of catastrophe bonds, he has led AIR’s modeling support for insurance-linked. Before joining AIR, Lee held senior executive positions at several leading information technology companies. He is a former U.S. Navy officer.

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