Home State Insurance Group Inc., based in Waco, Texas, announced the promotion of two executives.
Jennifer D. Huddleston has assumed the position of president of Home State County Mutual Insurance Company. Since 1997, Huddleston has served as vice president and has been responsible for the company’s Texas book of non-standard automobile insurance, as well as management of Home State’s Marketing/Compliance office in Dallas.
C. Michael Davis has assumed the position of president of Equity Insurance Company. Since 1998, Davis has served as vice president and has been responsible for the development of the company’s technological infrastructure, human resources department and the management of the home office in Waco.
John M. Davis will continue to serve as president of Home State Insurance Group Inc. Davis also remains as chairman of the Board of Directors of both Home State County Mutual Insurance Company and Equity Insurance Company.
Home State Insurance Group is a Texas based insurance holding company that includes Home State County Mutual Insurance Company and Equity Insurance Company. It has offices in Waco, Dallas, and Austin, Texas, and Tulsa, Okla.
Shreveport, La.-based Specialty Risk Associates Inc. added Thomas Garland as the new vice president of Underwriting and Marketing. Garland will coordinate the underwriting and marketing efforts of the home office in Shreveport with its three branch offices: Dupuy Specialty Risk in Jackson, Miss.; Sunbelt Special Risks in Baton Rouge, La.; and Metro General Agency in Fort Worth, Texas.
Garland comes to Specialty Risk from another managing general agency where he opened and managed the Louisiana office for the past 11 years. Prior to that, Garland worked for Gainsco Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas, marketing commercial products to managing general agencies.
SRA is licensed in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
Hull & Company promoted Madelyn Cohen to the positions of vice president and branch manager of its New Orleans, La., office.
Prior to working for Hull & Company, Cohen spent 20 years with IB&M, a wholesale subsidiary of Lafayette Insurance Company. Hull purchased IB&M in 2003.
Burns & Wilcox of Houston announced that James Pratka has joined the managing general agency as a commercial lines underwriter. Pratka’s responsibilities include serving as a liaison with Burns & Wilcox’s network of agents, quoting new business and marketing to agencies.
Prior to joining Burns & Wilcox, Pratka most recently served as underwriting specialist with CNA Insurance Company in Houston.
Ralph Brown has joined MarketScout. He will become part of MarketScout’s underwriting and brokerage operation, focusing on energy, manufacturing and wholesale opportunities.
Brown, formerly vice president of XL’s primary domestic and international casualty division, has more than 30 years of insurance industry experience.
Burns & Wilcox of Dallas/Fort Worth promoted Andrew Littlejohn to associate underwriter. As an associate underwriter, Littlejohn is responsible for producing new business and maintaining his renewal book of business. He previously served as an assistant underwriter since joining Burns & Wilcox in July 2003.
Argonaut Group Inc.reported that Dr. George A. Roberts, 86, notified the company that he will not stand for reelection to the company’s Board of Directors at the annual meeting of stockholders on May 10, 2005. Dr. Roberts has been a director of the company since 1986 and served as chairman of the Board of Directors from December 1998 to April 2000.
H. Berry Cash, 66, has been nominated to stand for election to the board of directors. Cash, a nationally known venture capitalist, is a general partner of InterWest Partners in Menlo Park, Calif. He began his career at Texas Instruments in 1964, and later was a consultant to Apple Computer on the original Macintosh project. In 1983 he founded his own venture capital fund, Berry Cash Southwest Partnership, which he later combined with InterWest Partners in 1985.
Cash currently serves on the board of directors of the following publicly held companies: Ciena Corporation, Silicon Laboratories Inc., Airspan Networks Inc., i2 Technologies Inc., Staktek Holdings Inc., First Acceptance Corporation and Microtune Inc.
The American Insurance Association appointed Tammy Velasquez as vice president and director of state affairs. In her new role, Velasquez will work with AIA’s six regional teams to manage the association’s state-level resources and design strategies on key public policy issues.
Velasquez will be located in the AIA’s home office in Washington, D.C. AIA has state government affairs professionals located in six regional offices around the country: in Albany, N.Y.; Atlanta, Ga.; Austin, Texas; Chicago, Ill.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Washington, DC.
Prior to joining AIA, Velasquez worked in the District of Columbia’s Department of Insurance and Securities Regulation as chief of staff and director of public affairs. She previously served as chief consumer advocate for the attorney general’s office in Louisiana, director of state government affairs for the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents, and director of public affairs for the Alliance of American Insurers.
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