Latest Agencies Headlines

Lots of stability

Jan 1 2006 // When he is presented with a construction account at his office on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, Rubin Alspector can quickly determine which insurers might write it. He knows his standard markets well enough to know that only...

From pinstripes to prison stripes: Near North’s Segal on life behind bars

Jan 1 2006 // Former Chicago insurance broker serving time for fraud appears on TV; Is movie next? Once you get over the fear … you find that people are just people,” Michael “Mickey” Segal, 63, told an ABC-TV...

2006: The year when changes take hold

Jan 1 2006 // This coming 2006 New Year seems like it will be the start of a year of big changes for the industry. It is not that the industry will be pulled out by its roots and shaken. Rather, many of the slow and even subtle changes...

IJ Exclusive: Colorado Commissioner David Rivera Has Age-and Experience

Jan 1 2006 // When David Rivera was appointed Insurance Commissioner by Colorado Governor Bill Owens in April 2005, he was the youngest commissioner in the United States. Despite his age, however, Rivera already had a wealth of...

People

Jan 1 2006 // Michael Robinson has been named vice president and zone manager of ACE USA Professional Risk’s, Southeast Region, a division of the ACE Group of Companies. Robinson will work with brokers and clients in the southeast...

PIA of Louisiana resolutions seek hurricane relief assistance

Jan 1 2006 // Thanking insurance companies on behalf of Louisiana insurance agents and the policyholders they represent for the carriers’ hard work and assistance in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Professional...

Jan 1 2006 // Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation, a Boston-based auto insurer, has appointed Matthew H. Cronin as senior marketing representative and Sean P. Farrelly as marketing representative, both in Connecticut. Cronin will...

From New England to Virginia, Courts Made Insurance Headlines in 2005

Dec 30 2005 // From Maine to Virginia, many of the insurance headlines in 2005 dealt with compensation and reinsurance probes, just as they did across the country, casting the industry’s reputation in a bad light. But much of the...

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Adds Pa. Brokerage to Roster

Dec 29 2005 // Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. reported the acquisition of Brokerage Professionals Inc. of Media, Pennsylvania. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Established in 1982, Brokerage Professionals Inc. (bpi) is a...

2005, a Year to Remember: Busiest Hurricane Season of the Century for United States

Dec 29 2005 // The hurricane season made 2005 a year-to-remember, with the southeast encountering the busiest hurricane season of the century, with 26 named storms and 13 hurricanes, meteorologists used up the list of 21 proper names and...

Take Insurance Journal’s Agency Automation Survey

Dec 29 2005 // Insurance Journal is working with Kinetic Information LLC to study how independent insurance agents and brokers are approaching agency automation. The results will appear as an exclusive article in Insurance Journal early...

La., Miss. Relief Agencies to Share $125K in Aid from Council Foundation

Dec 28 2005 // The Foundation for Agency Management Excellence (FAME), an insurance industry educational foundation of The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, has identified the three relief agencies in Louisiana and Mississippi...

Ill.’s Euclid to Purchase Environmental Insurance Brokers

Dec 28 2005 // Euclid Insurance Services, Inc. in Itasca, Ill., plans to acquire McHenry, Ill.-based Environmental Insurance Brokers, Inc., a commercial insurance agency that specializes in serving the waste-hauling and transportation...

Four Key 2006 Goals Outlined by Florida Big ‘I’ President

Dec 28 2005 // The Florida Association of Insurance Agents has four key goals to accomplish in 2006 according to Jeff Grady, FAIA president and CEO, first, to pass its property insurance market proposal; second, to pass FAIA’s...

Ill. Agents,Companies Plan Annual Insurance Industry Legislative Day

Dec 27 2005 // The Professional Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois, in conjunction with the Illinois Insurance Association, Illinois Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, Illinois State Association of Health Underwriters...

Michigan Agents Push for Improved Smoke Detector Use

Dec 22 2005 // Michigan insurance agents are calling for more use of smoke detectors in Michigan homes as the peak fire season approaches. Last year, 119 people died in Michigan house fires. Only 16 percent of the homes where a fire...

S. Fla. Insurance Agent Arrested for Bilking His Elderly Clients

Dec 22 2005 // A South Florida insurance agent, Thomas A. Masciarelli, was arrested Tuesday by state insurance fraud detectives for bilking elderly clients in an unregistered securities scheme. Masciarelli, 48, was charged with three...

N.Y. Permits Agents to Recover Costs for Bad Checks in Reversal of Opinion

Dec 21 2005 // New York insurance agents will have the same rights that other businesses have to recover costs when customers write bad checks, according to a new opinion issued December 19 by the New York Insurance Department. The...

Pensacola Agent’s License Revoked for Multiple Violations

Dec 20 2005 // Darrell E. Stidham, a Pensacola, Fla. agent has had his license revoked due to multiple violations, including scamming a blind client according to an announcement by Tom Gallagher, Florida’s CFO. Stidham, 54, has...

Texas-based CAA Member Agencies to Participate in Big ‘I’ Best Practices Study

Dec 20 2005 // Bigham-Kliewer-Chapman-Watts and Bosworth & Associates, two member agencies of Combined Agents of America, have been selected to be a part of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America “Best...