People and Places

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners unanimously elected New Hampshire Insurance Commissioner Roger Sevigny as secretary-treasurer of the association at the NAIC summer meeting last month in Washington. D.C. The elction places him in position to be president of the organization in the future.

Sevigny fills the vacancy created by the retirement of former NAIC Secretary-Treasurer Eric Serna, who was also superintendent of the New Mexico Insurance Division. Serna agreed to retire last month as part of a settlement approved by the Public Regulation Commission.

While not always the case, officers traditionally work their way up the officer ranks of NAIC to the presidency.

Prior to becoming commissioner, Sevigny held the position of assistant commissioner in New Hampshire. Before that he worked in the insurance industry at Travelers Insurance for over 30 years in a variety of technical and management positions.

The board of trustees of the American Institute for CPCU and the Insurance Institute of America has selected Peter L. Miller as the new president and chief executive officer of the Malvern, Pa. institutes, replacing Terrie Troxel, who retired in October 2005. Miller has been serving as the interim and acting president and CEO since Troxel’s retirement.

Shortly after joining the Institutes in 1992, Miller rose to vice president of information systems. He became a senior vice president in 1998, at which time he was appointed to the Executive Council with oversight for finance, information systems and human resources. In 2002, Miller was appointed executive vice president with responsibility for business functions and education activities.

The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers has elected new directors including Robert L. Cohen, chairman and CEO of The IMA Financial Group Inc., in Denver, Colo.; M. Steven DeCarlo, president and CEO of American Wholesale Insurance Group of Charlotte, N.C.; and Jim W. Henderson, president and chief operating officer of Brown & Brown Inc., in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Cohen’s IMA Financial Group Inc. is comprised of IMA Inc., a large retail insurance broker; ERA Inc., a wholesale insurance broker located in Dallas; and TrueNorth Inc., a money manager, registered investment adviser and limited broker dealer.

DeCarlo joined American Wholesale in 2001 after three years as senior vice president of Royal & SunAlliance USA.

Henderson is a member of his company’s board of directors. He joined Brown & Brown in 1985 as chief financial officer and moved into a number of senior management assignments.

Swett & Crawford, based in Atlanta, Ga., has appointed James E. Moylan Jr. as chief financial officer. Formerly Moylan served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer of PRG-Schultz International, an Atlanta recovery audit and business services firm.

Benfield, an independent reinsurance and risk intermediary, has expanded its professional liability practice with the addition of William J. Henriques and Andrew Bernstein to the firm’s New York office.

Henriques was named leader of Benfield’s professional liability specialty team, bringing 20 years of experience. Henriques was a senior vice president at Converium where he was responsible for all professional liability reinsurance. His additional experience has been as a treaty reinsurance broker at Guy Carpenter and E.W. Blanch.

Bernstein was also named a senior vice president specializing in alternative risk transfer products. Before joining Benfield in May, Bernstein was a senior vice president with Quanta Re where he specialized in casualty reinsurance. He began his insurance industry career at AIG as an actuary and then joined Converium as an assistant vice president.

Holborn Corp., a New York City-based reinsurance broker, announced a number of personnel changes. David W. Melrose, executive vice president, will now focus on client service and business development. John J. DiGregoria will now serve as executive vice president and chief operating and financial officer while Paul J. Kneuer, will serve as senior vice president, chief reinsurance strategist and a senior member of the broking staff.

Holborn is also welcoming new members of the firm: Paul C. Little, executive vice president and chief brokerage officer; Frank D. Pierson, senior vice president and chief technical officer; and Michael Mikitiuk, vice president of claims. Little comes to Holborn after 21 years at Guy Carpenter. Pierson spent the past 14 years at Centre Re. Mikitiuk is a veteran of the Quanta Insurance Group and Converium North America.