People – West

Cindy Belcher has been promoted to chief operating officer of Los Angeles, Calif.-based Cooperative of American Physicians Inc.

Her promotion coincides with the announcement by CEO James L. Weidner that he will retire effective March 1, 2015 after 20 years at the helm of the organization.

Belcher served most recently as senior vice president of corporate strategy and business development. She joined CAP in 1999 and has served in numerous roles, including senior vice president of corporate strategy and business development, vice president of membership, and director of marketing/customer relations.

Beside its L.A. headquarters, CAP also has offices in San Diego, Orange County, Sacramento, and Palo Alto.

Los Angeles, Calif.-based Topa Insurance Group named Anthony Manzitto executive vice president and chief underwriting officer.

Manzitto will be accountable for profit and growth goals, reinsurance, marketing, product pricing, underwriting rules, processes and efficiencies, new product development, programs systems efficiencies and data analytic tools.

Manzitto has more than 20 years of insurance experience. He previously served as the head of US Broker Casualty Treaty Reinsurance at Swiss Re.

Topa Insurance’s parent company, Topa Equities Ltd., is a privately held holding company with interests in insurance, automobile dealerships, beverage distribution and real estate.

Adam Wise has been promoted to vice president of the brokerage department and Hull & Co. Inc. in the Northwest region.

He joined Hull & Co. nearly six years ago to spearhead the formation of the brokerage department. Prior to Hull & Co., Wise was a licensed certified real estate appraiser and was the owner of Real Estate Valuation Group for three years. Prior to that, he was an employee at Wise Appraisal Inc. in Portland.

Hull & Co. has offices in Portland, Ore., and Gig Harbor, Wash.

Beecher Carlson Insurance Services LLC named Reiner Braun as senior managing director in its national property practice, a post in which he will have oversight of the Western U.S.

Braun will work out of the Woodland Hills, Calif., office.

He will also be responsible for developing strategies for risk transfer, placing insurance and servicing property accounts in a variety of industries. He will report to Cliff Simpson, head of the national property practice.

Braun has 27 years of experience in the risk management and insurance industry, which experience in working on the design and implementation of large, layered domestic and global property programs. His specializations include alternative risk transfer and complex international insurance solutions.

Prior to Beecher Carlson, Braun served as managing director and senior client advisor in the North American property practice at Marsh Risk & Insurance Services. There he also served as a professional standards officer and technical advisor on policy forms, coverage questions and operational processes. Braun began his insurance career with Allianz, which he was with for 15 years.

Beecher Carlson Insurance Services LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc.

Encino, Calif.-based NAS Insurance Services announced the appointment of three key managers and executives across the company.

Chris Reese has been promoted to director of underwriting. In her newly expanded role, Reese will lead the orientation, training and development program for the entire underwriting department across all of NAS’ specialty lines.

Anita Bryant was promoted to assistant vice president of underwriting, with responsibilities to support and grow NAS’ program business and reinsurance partnerships.

Desiree Khoury is now assistant vice president of specialty reinsurance, leading new business development efforts for the company’s reinsurance services.

NAS is a specialty insurance underwriting manager. Its insurance products and programs are distributed through brokers and as tailored solutions for mutual insurance carriers.

Hub International Insurance Services Inc. named Jay Corbett as a senior vice president of the commercial division based in Folsom, Calif.

In addition to his commercial brokerage production role, Corbett will serve as the site manager in the Folsom office.

Prior to Hub, Corbett was affiliated with the Leavitt Group Brokerage in Sacramento, where he served as a commercial lines broker specializing primarily in construction, manufacturing, distribution, real estate and property management and entertainment.

Corbett began his insurance career at Employee Benefits Insurance in San Jose. Several years later he started Corbett Insurance Services, which subsequently merged with Winchester Insurance Agency in Santa Clara. At Winchester, he wrote CompWatch, a workers’ compensation claims and risk management software product. Afterward he moved to ABD in Redwood City, where he was a manager and as a broker.

Chicago, Ill.-based Hub is a global insurance brokerage that provides services like property/casualty, life and health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services.

San Jose, Calif.-based Suhr Risk Services has named Wente Tran an employee benefits account executive.

Tran will help develop the firm’s portfolio of regional and national employee benefits accounts.

Tran spent the last eight years at Melita Group, where she managed corporate accounts covering 500 to 1,000 employees. Prior to that Tran worked at Staples and Kellogg’s.

Suhr is a risk management and insurance broker.

Woodruff-Sawyer & Co. named Conor Overstake as a producer in the Denver, Colo., office.

Overstake will focus on business development in the technology, life science and manufacturing industries.

Most recently, Overstake was a producer at USI Colorado. Prior to that he was an account executive for the Murphy Insurance Group and served as an officer and pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps.

San Francisco-based Woodruff-Sawyer is an active partner of Assurex Global and International Benefits Network. It has offices in California, Portland, Ore., and Denver.

Danielle Julien has been hired by wholesaler All Risks Ltd. as a workers’ compensation brokerage underwriter located in San Diego, Calif.

Julien will write workers’ compensation business with retail agents in California, Arizona and Nevada. Julien has eight years of workers’ comp experience working for both carriers and wholesalers, and a background in placing coverage in California and other west coast states.

All Risks, heaquartered in Gunt Valley, Md., employs more than 600 staff members in offices in Maryland, Arizona, California, Washington, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Topics California