People and Places

Seattle-based Safeco Insurance Companies has appointed Michael LaRocco as president and chief operating officer.

In that expanded role, LaRocco will bring together the company’s property and casualty operations, and will have profit-and-loss responsibility for all Safeco product lines, including product development, underwriting, claims, service, sales, distribution and market research.

A 27-year insurance veteran, LaRocco started his career at Progressive and later held executive positions at GEICO. He joined Safeco in 2001 to lead the personal lines enterprise.

Joseph Beneducci has been elected president and chief operating officer of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., Novato, Calif. The appointment was approved by the Fireman’s Fund Board of Directors during its meeting on Feb. 3.

Beneducci was named executive vice president and chief operating officer in May 2003. Among the key positions he has held prior to being named chief operating officer were executive vice president and chief administrative officer, and senior vice president in the commercial business unit.

He joined Fireman’s Fund in 1998 after a 10-year career at Chubb & Son.

Sadie Bailey, personal lines manager at SullivanCurtisMonroe Insurance Services LLC, Irvine, Calif., has been named chair of the personal lines practice group for RiskProNet International Inc., a network of 29 independent brokers in the United States and Canada.

Bailey, a native of England, first began working in insurance after finishing her education at a school outside London. She came to San Diego in 1991 and decided to stay. She joined SullivanCurtisMonroe three years ago. Bailey is a member of the Travelers, Firemen’s Fund and Hartford advisory groups, and has been honored by Travelers as a “Personal Lines High Achiever.”

The personal lines group will help RiskProNet members from across North American share their best practices.

ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operating division of the ACE Group of Companies, Philadelphia, has named Susan Burkhart assistant vice president in ACE Risk Management’s West Coast Construction team. The company also has appointed Jessica Yueh business development manager for the international and specialty division in San Francisco.

Burkhart will be responsible for underwriting construction accounts for the San Francisco and Los Angeles branches. Burkhart joins ACE USA after an 18-year tenure with St. Paul Travelers Insurance. Most recently, she served as senior account executive for the construction division, responsible for large casualty products in the Northern and Southern California territories.

Yueh will be responsible for leading the unit’s business development activities in Northern California and cultivating new and existing relationships with insurance brokers in the region. She joins ACE USA from Marsh USA in San Francisco. As a transaction specialist in Marsh’s Middle Market Group, she was responsible for developing and maintaining market relationships and providing placement assistance. Her experience includes working with industry groups on the client advisory and broking side.

The Transaction Services Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers, New York, has named Richard L. Bennett Jr. director in the firm’s insurance risk management solutions practice. Bennett will work with the firm’s major clients in insurance and risk management advisory services. Prior to joining PwC, Bennett worked at three of the top global insurance brokerage firms, most recently as a senior vice president/client executive, advising global clients on the management of all aspects of the cost of mitigating, transferring, retaining or avoiding risk. He began his career as a casualty and marine underwriter.

Oregon-based StanCorp Financial Group Inc., which owns subsidiaries Standard Insurance Co. and The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York, has elected Stanley R. Fallis of Scottsdale, Ariz., to its board of directors.

Fallis currently serves on the board of directors and is chairman of the audit committee of Hines Horticulture Inc. From 1994 to 1999, he was chairman and CEO of Everen Clearing Corp., a securities execution and clearing company, and the senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Everen Securities Inc., a national brokerage firm. Fallis also previously served as senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of Kemper Securities Group.

Bruce Lees has been named vice president of sales for Athens Administrators in Concord, Calif. Lees is a veteran of 12 years in the insurance industry with experience in property and casualty, workers’ compensation, risk consulting, loss control and claims analysis.

Payne Financial Group Inc., a regional independent insurance agency, has expanded its Boise, Idaho, office by hiring Jon Riche, Larry Koomler and Trish Quarles.

Riche and Koomler were formerly brokers with Marsh in Boise. Their accounts and policies will be automatically transferred to Payne Financial Group, so clients will not need to do anything as a result of this change.

Quarles was formerly a senior associate with Mercer Health and Benefits in Boise. He is expected to strengthen Payne’s Employee Benefits Division.

Payne Financial Group opened its Boise office in 2005. Riche, Koomler and Quarles will be based in Payne’s office in University Plaza at 960 Broadway Avenue. Phone: (208) 424-2900.

Superior Access Insurance Services Inc., Irvine, Calif., has hired Sunil Padiyar as chief technology officer, responsible for all technology and information systems. Padiyar has been a development leader for major software companies including Novell, LanTastic, SalesLogix, Vcommerce and Arrange Technologies.

California-based Countrywide Insurance Group has reported that chief operations officer Doreen DeLaney was named a Corporate Trailblazer by Minorities in Business Magazine.

The Corporate Trailblazer award is given to an active member of community organizations who has consistently demonstrated excellence in his or her professional life and has pioneered the way for others.

Topics California Chubb