People – Midwest

EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants, a retail property/casualty insurance brokerage and employee benefits consultant, hired Jeff Connelly as senior vice president/client executive in EPIC’s Greyling Insurance Brokers division. He is based in the firm’s St. Louis, Mo., office.

Connelly will specialize in the placement of professional liability, executive liability and other business insurance lines to consulting engineering firms across the country.

He joins from Marsh Inc. where he was program manager for The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Business Insurance Trust Program, responsible for providing business and professional liability insurance products and risk consulting services to engineering firms nationwide.

Connelly is a member of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) and he is currently completing the final module needed to obtain his RPLU (Registered Professional Liability Underwriter) designation.

EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants is headquartered in San Francisco.

Columbia Insurance Group (Columbia), headquartered in Columbia, Mo., added Shane Martinez to its executive team as vice president and Omaha, Neb., branch manager. Martinez is a seasoned insurance professional with more than 20 years of personal, commercial and farm underwriting experience.

Columbia has branch locations in Atlanta, Ga.; Austin, Texas; Omaha, Neb., and Salina, Kan.

Brett Parmenter joined Pinnacle Actuarial Resources Inc. as a consulting actuary in Chicago.

Parmenter comes to Pinnacle with over 10 years of experience in the property/casualty practice area and has considerable experience with both primary commercial insurance and reinsurance. He has extensive experience with stochastic models along with various capital allocation procedures and portfolio and large account profitability analyses.

Parmenter is a fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Pinnacle is an independent, full-service actuarial firm focused on the property/casualty insurance industry. Headquartered in Bloomington, Ill., Pinnacle also has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Des Moines, Indianapolis and San Francisco.

Alper Services LLC, based in Chicago, has hired five new employees to join the AuditRate, Financial Services, Claims Management Services, Employee Benefits and Personal Lines departments.

Andrew Bertucci joins Alper Services as a consultant in the AuditRate Division bringing with him prior commercial lines claims experience at a major insurance company. He will work to uncover and recover insurance premium overcharges for clients related to workers’ compensation and general liability.

Judy McCormick was added as nurse claims manager advocate. In this role, she will oversee clients’ workers’ compensation claims to ensure rapid and cost-effective claims closure. McCormick has many years of experience in both managed care and commercial lines insurance.

Edyta Obrzut assumes the role of account assistant for the Personal Lines Division. With prior experience in personal lines at an insurance brokerage, Obrzut will provide support in marketing, servicing and expanding the Personal Lines’ Client base.

Gilda “Gigi” Santos returns to Alper’s Employee Benefits Division as an account manager. With experience on both the brokerage and carrier sides, Santos will act as a liaison for employers and employees, to facilitate the enrollment processes and provide day-to-day client service support.

Dawn Slanker joins Alper’s Financial Services team with extensive experience as a client services coordinator for various life insurance companies within their financial departments. She will coordinate the marketing and service processes for Alper’s life insurance and financial clients.

Alper Services LLC provides workers’ compensation, commercial property/casualty insurance, claims management, private life insurance, personal insurance, financial services and more.

Starr Companies appointed Oliver Ade as regional vice president for the Midwest Region. Ade will be located in Starr’s Chicago office, where he will be responsible for the field leadership in the Midwest.

Ade has been in the insurance industry for 23 years. He has a proven track record for building profitable broker and customer relationships, as well as successfully growing regional offices and building new business segments. His experience includes a broad range of property and casualty products, as well as broker distribution responsibilities.

Ade will report to Robert Cruz, national branch officer, director of Field Operations, in New York.

Starr Companies (Starr) is the worldwide marketing name for the operating insurance and travel assistance companies and subsidiaries of Starr International Co. Inc., and for the investment business of C.V. Starr & Co. Inc. and its subsidiaries.