Stephen D’Arcy, professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, began his term as president of the Casualty Actuarial Society at the organization’s annual meeting. D’Arcy has been a fellow of the CAS since 1975 and joined the faculty at the University of Illinois in 1981. Prior to that, he was an actuary at CUMIS Insurance Society. D’Arcy has served on a variety of committees at the CAS, including the board of directors and served as the chairman of both the long range planning committee and the task force on education and testing.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners elected four officers for 2005 during its winter meeting in New Orleans. Members elected Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Diane Koken as president, Maine Insurance Superintendent Alessandro Luppa as president-elect, Oregon Insurance Administrator Joel Ario as vice president and Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger as secretary-treasurer.
Koken currently serves on several key committees, including chair of the internal administration subcommittee, the market regulation and consumer affairs committee; the financial condition committee; the government affairs task force and the speed to market task force. She is also a member of the National Insurance Producer Registry board of directors. Koken’s tenure as Pennsylvania insurance commissioner began in August 1997, when former Governor Tom Ridge appointed her acting commissioner.
Luppa was appointed Maine’s superintendent of insurance in 1998 and was re-appointed to a second term in 2004. He is chair of the NAIC’s reinsurance task force and vice chair of the capital adequacy task force. At the 2004 International Association of Insurance Supervisors annual meeting, Iuppa was elected to serve a two-year term as chair of the IAIS executive committee.
Ario currently is vice chair of the internal administration subcommittee and chairs the NAIC’s market regulation/consumer affairs committee and the statistical information task force. He also serves on the government affairs task force and the speed to market task force and chairs the NIPR board of directors. Ario has been with the Oregon Insurance Division since 1995, where he has been serving as insurance administrator since 2000.
Praeger chairs the health insurance and managed care committee and serves as vice chair for the NAIC Midwestern zone, the government affairs task force and the privacy issues working group. Praeger was elected as Kansas’ 24th Commissioner of Insurance in 2002, and began serving in the position in 2003. She was previously elected to the Kansas Senate in 1992, 1996 and 2000.
ACE INA, a U.S.-based division of the Ace Group of Cos., announced two appointments in its government affairs and legal unit. Patricia Henry has been promoted to executive vice president, government affairs and legal, and Robert Omrod has joined ACE as senior vice president, government affairs.
Henry will oversee ACE’s group-wide government affairs and legal activities involving Ace USA in the United States. Based in Philadelphia, she will report to Susan Rivera, president, ACE INA, and work closely with Peter Mear, ACE Limited general counsel, on global government affairs issues. Henry most recently served as senior vice president, ACE INA Government Affairs, a position she held since 2002. She previously served in several management positions at ACE.
Omrod brings nearly 20 years of insurance industry experience to ACE. Based in Washington, D.C., Omrod will manage ACE’s government affairs office and activities, with emphasis on federal affairs issues that impact the insurance industry, including the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, tort reform, asbestos legislation and industry regulation. He will report to Henry. Omrod most recently was vice president of claims for St. Paul Travelers, responsible for overseeing and coordinating claims litigation and legislative tort reform activities on a state and federal level. Prior to the merger with the Travelers, he managed the St. Paul’s environmental and mass tort claim unit.
Two product development experts with the American Association of Insurance Services were promoted to new positions within the organization. Robert Guevara has been promoted to vice president for inland marine, and Susan Luecke has been named to the newly created position of assistant vice president for personal lines.
Guevara has been an assistant vice president with AAIS for more than 10 years, during which time he has been the principal developer of the AAIS inland marine guide and commercial output program. He is a member of the legislative and regulatory affairs committee of the Inland Marine Underwriters Association.
Luecke was director of personal lines for AAIS before her recent promotion. She joined AAIS in 1992 as a personal lines product development specialist, and has been the principal developer of the AAIS homeowners and mobile-homeowners programs. Before coming to AAIS, Luecke had 17 years’ experience in underwriting and marketing with USF&G and the St. Paul Cos.
AAIS is a national advisory organization and statistical agent that develops policy forms and rating information used by more than 600 property/casualty companies throughout the United States.
London-based broker, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group’s board of directors announced it has accepted the resignation of its chief executive, Steve McGill, effective immediately.
JLT Chairman Ken Carter has agreed to become executive chairman of the group for a period of up to two years, by the end of which time the group will appoint a new chief executive. Carter joined JLT as chief executive in 1986. He continued as chief executive following the merger with JIB Group in February 1997 until January 2002, when he was appointed chairman. He is a director of the company’s French associate SIACI SA and a non-executive director of City North Group plc. The board also appointed Geoffrey Howe, an independent non-executive director, as joint deputy chairman alongside Rodney Leach.
Robert Huffert, senior vice president of American Re-Insurance Company, was elected chairman of the American Institute of Marine Underwriters at its annual meeting. He succeeds David French, president of American International Marine Agency and senior vice president of American International Underwriters.
Since joining American Re-Insurance in 1972, Huffert has held positions of underwriting responsibility for a worldwide portfolio, which includes marine and aviation. He is experienced in underwriting and managing the treaty and facultative portfolios for a full range of primary insurance companies’ reinsurance needs in hull, cargo, offshore energy and marine liability lines of business. Major geographical areas serviced have been the United States, London, Europe, the Far East, the Middle East and Latin America.
Huffert is currently the chairman of the American Hull Insurance Syndicate and past chairman of the American Offshore Insurance Syndicate. He served for many years as chairman of AIMU’S Education Committee, and is a past president of the American Marine Insurance Forum and has been a member of the Canadian Board of Marine Underwriters, The American Bureau of Shipping and the National Cargo Bureau.
Elliott Feldman of the law firm Cozen-O’Connor was recently elected vice president of the National Association of Subrogation Professionals at its annual conference. The NASP is a nonprofit trade association comprised of insurance company professionals, attorneys and vendors focusing on subrogation and recovery claims. Feldman also serves on the NASP board of directors and executive committee.
Feldman also serves on the executive and management committees of Cozen O’Connor, such as chair of the national and international subrogation and recovery department and co-chair of its crisis response and management group. He has authored several articles and reference materials, which appeared in legal, insurance and business publications.
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