People – East

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin has appointed Michael Pieciak as the commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), replacing Susan Donegan. Pieciak was previously deputy commissioner of DFR’s securities division.

Donegan, who was commissioner since 2013, announced in March that she would step down on June 30. Donegan worked at DFR from 1985 to 1990 and was the department’s first director of securities regulation.

Prior to his appointment as deputy commissioner at DFR, Pieciak practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. He previously practiced at Downs Rachlin Martin in Burlington.

Pieciak has a long history in Vermont, serving as executive page to Gov. Howard Dean, an intern for Sen. Patrick Leahy in Washington, D.C. and later as campaign manager for Attorney General William H. Sorrell.

Pieciak is an observer member of the SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Cos. and is chairman of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) Corporate Finance Section Committee.

Narragansett Bay Insurance Co. has named Peter Hutchinson an assistant vice president and Rhode Island and Massachusetts territory manager.

Hutchinson will be responsible for partnerships with NBIC’s agents and industry associations, profitable growth, and service delivery in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Hutchinson has 25 years of experience in insurance, having headed territory development and management strategies for UPC Insurance, SAFECO and Commerce Insurance.

Starr Companies’ Chief Marketing Officer Leilani M. Brown was recognized by the National Organization of Women New York City Chapter as a “Woman of Power & Influence” at the group’s annual awards dinner last week.

Brown was honored along with five other women in business, finance, entrepreneurship, technology, law and government as a pioneer and role model.

Brown has 20 years of experience working for insurance and other corporations. She was named vice president and chief marketing officer for Starr in 2011. She has worked at The Economist Group, CQ Roll Call Group, MetLife, American International Group and Chubb.

In February Brown was named a Top Woman in Marketing and Advertising by Black Enterprise Magazine; in 2014 Direct Marketing News inducted her into its Direct Marketing Hall of Femme, and in 2012 Savoy Magazine included her on its list of Top Women in Corporate America.

Katja Zigerlig has joined Hub Northeast as senior vice president, Fine Arts and Special Risks Group.

Zigerlig will be based in the New York City office.

Most recently, Zigerlig served as vice president of Art, Wine and Jewelry Insurance at AIG Private Client Group.

Zigerlig, who has 15 years of experience in the insurance industry, has lectured about art and wine collecting in the context of alternative investments, asset protection, trust and estate planning and risk management to audiences of collectors, appraisers, financial and insurance professionals. She has also been a guest lecturer at Christie’s Education on art insurance and risk management.

XS Brokers, one of the largest independent insurance wholesale brokerages in New England, is opening a new office in the greater Philadelphia area and has hired Alan Dudkiewicz to lead the firm’s efforts in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware-New York region.

Dudkiewicz will be vice president and a member of XS Brokers’ senior management team. His responsibilities will include underwriting/brokering business for the retail agency relationships he has built through the years while also marketing territory and targeting staff to join the firm.

He has 29 years in the insurance industry, including 16 years at Jimcor Agencies in New Jersey. Prior to that he was at Harleysville, American Reliance and Ohio Casualty.

“This new office location fits perfectly into our long-term plan of growing and diversifying our business,” said Adam Devine, CEO and president of XS Brokers.

Topics New York