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Members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners elected 2007 officers during the group’s winter meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

NAIC named Alabama Insurance Commissioner Walter Bell president, Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger president-elect, New Hampshire Insurance Commissioner Roger Sevigny vice president, and West Virginia Insurance Commissioner Jane Cline secretary-treasurer.

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies named Nancy Grover new media relations director. Grover, who will be based in NAMIC’s Washington, D.C., office, will promote the positions of the organization and the member companies it serves to key target audiences,

Guy Carpenter & Co. Inc. the global risk and reinsurance specialist and part of the Marsh & McLennan Companies, appointed of Eric “Rick” Johnson senior vice president. Johnson will focus on continued growth of the firm’s property and casualty business throughout the Mid-America region and will be based in the Minneapolis office. Johnson was most recently senior vice president at Willis Re Inc., where he was a broker.

John Latham was promoted to senior vice president in operations for Markel Corp. Also at Markel, David Egbert, currently chief technical officer, was promoted to chief information officer and will report to Latham in his new role.

A newly created Office of Business Development comprised of Letha Heaton, Brenda Phillips, and Jeff Lamb also will report to Latham, as his primary focus will be on business development.

Most recently, Latham served as chief information officer. Prior to that, he was chief operating officer of Markel Re, and he previously was president and CEO of Colony Insurance Co.

Egbert joined Markel in March 2006 as chief technical officer. He previously was chief information officer at Viasystems Technologies.

Willis Group Holdings Ltd. named Grahame Millwater chief operating officer. Millwater has been with Willis for 21 years. In his new role, Millwater will be working closely with Joe Plumeri, chairman and CEO, on day-to-day management of the company. Millwater remains chairman of Willis Re, as Peter Hearn was appointed the global CEO of the unit earlier this year.

Concurrently, the company announced that after 18 years of service, Tom Colraine has decided to leave at the end of this year. Colraine has served in a number of finance positions, most recently as vice chairman and co-chief operating officer.

Richard Bucknall, in addition to his current role as chairman of Willis Ltd., will replace Colraine as CEO. Bucknall will remain vice chairman of the group, focusing on marketing efforts around the world.

Pat Regan, who joined Willis as the chief financial officer in Nov. 2005, will take on expanded responsibilities with Colraine’s departure. He will oversee the Real Estate unit. He also will oversee Mergers and Acquisitions and manage Risk Management and Investor Relations.

Seattle-based Safeco named Tim Mikolajewski general manager for California, responsible for the profit-and-loss performance of insurance products, and appointed Juan Vargas vice president of external relations for California.

Mikolajewski will add the general manager role to his current duties as head of Safeco Surety. A 22-year company veteran, he has held management positions with the company, including manager of Surety’s California operations from 1986 to 1994.

Vargas joins Safeco after a career in California state politics. He will lead the company’s public policy strategy and will serve as a primary liaison between the company and California state officials, community leaders, and other businesses and associations. Vargas is leaving the California State Assembly after three terms in office.

Executive Perils, based in Los Angeles, named Tyie Moore senior vice president. Moore will be responsible for directors and officers, errors and omissions, legal malpractice, pollution liability, and healthcare professional broker coverages. Previously, Moore was a D&O and E&O broker at Bliss & Co.

Grass Valley, Calif.-based Networked Insurance Agents appointed Tony McIntosh territorial sales vice president in San Francisco’s East Bay and Napa Valley regions. The new territory includes Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, Napa and Lake counties.

McIntosh comes to Networked from Everest National, where he was director of underwriting and program manager for three Everest programs comprising $70 million in premium.

Physicians Insurance A Mutual Co., based in Seattle, named John Hastie vice president of marketing and sales. Hastie will relocate from Florida, where he was vice president-chief marketing officer at Global Insurance Management Co. and Healthcare Underwriters Group(s), which write medical professional liability coverage in Florida, Kentucky and Ohio.

Barger & Wolen LLP, a Los Angeles-based law firm specializing in insurance regulatory, general business and litigation matters, opened an office in Phoenix to be managed by Charles Cohen, former director of the Arizona Department of Insurance. The Phoenix office will provide counsel in connection with regulatory and litigation issues affecting the property/casualty and life and health insurance industries. He also will provide counsel on insurance matters in the states of Nevada and Utah. One of his initial focus areas will involve the formation of and counsel to Arizona and Nevada captives.

Cohen, who joined Barger & Wolen LLP as a partner in January 2006, served as Arizona Director of Insurance from 1988 to 2003.

Topics California Arizona