People

The National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices has named its officers and directors for the 2007-2008 term. The new NAPSLO president is Mary Ellen Rozzell, who is with Continental/Marmorstein & Malone in Paramus, N.J.

Other officers include Vice President, John F. Wood, Specialty Risk Associates Inc., Shreveport, La.; Secretary, Dale H. Pilkington, Colony Insurance Co., Richmond, Va.; and Treasurer, Marshall P. Kath, Colemont Brokerage Group Inc., Dallas, Texas.

Kevin T. Westrope, Westrope, Kansas City, Mo., was nominated for a new three-year term on the board. Steven R. Gross, Metro Insurance Services Inc.; Marshall P. Kath, Colemont Brokerage Group Inc.; Tom Mulligan, Western World Insurance Group; and Gary Tiepelman, Scottsdale Insurance Co., were re-nominated for three-year terms.

U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. has named Monte Stringer executive vice president and national brokerage manager of U.S Risk Brokers, the company’s wholesale excess and surplus lines insurance brokerage operations.

In this capacity, Stringer will have direct managerial responsibility for all of U.S. Risk Brokers’ branch offices and departments. U.S. Risk Brokers has offices in eight cities and employs more than 50 brokers.

Most recently, Stringer was executive vice president of marketing and manager of the Dallas office of U.S. Risk Brokers. Stringer has worked in the insurance industry for 30 years, including experience at two national insurance carriers. He joined U.S. Risk Insurance Group in 1996 and held positions of increasing responsibility during his 10 years with the company, including chief information officer.

Miller Insurance Services Limited announced that Victoria Barrett has joined the company as a broker and associate director of professional risk. She will be based in Miller’s London office. Barrett joins Miller from Integro Insurance Brokers.

Miller Insurance Services Limited is an independent insurance and reinsurance broker operating in the international markets and at Lloyd’s. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Miller Insurance Investments Limited.

IWIF Workers’ Compensation Insurance in Maryland has promoted Paige Beck to the position of executive vice president and chief financial officer. Beck oversees all financial activities for the organization including preparing financial reports, summaries and forecasts for business growth, and tracks the general economic outlook for Maryland business as it relates to IWIF. During her 17-year tenure with the Towson-based insurer, Beck has served as head of IWIF’s Internal Audit department and as assistant vice president of Finance. Prior to joining IWIF, she was employed with the Office of Legislative Audits.

LIG Marine Managers of St. Augustine, Fla., appointed Mike McFarland to the team as a senior marine underwriter. McFarland will head up LIG’s new Ocean Cargo Department and be responsible for assisting agencies with commercial marine accounts.

McFarland has 30 years’ experience in the commercial marine insurance industry, having spent time in New York City and Los Angeles as both a marine underwriter and retail broker, before coming to Tampa Bay in 1991, where he has worked as a marine wholesaler and managing general agent.

Wells Fargo Insurance Services selected Steve Smith to be senior vice president and managing director of its North Carolina operations.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo in 2006, Smith held leadership positions with CNA Financial, The Hartford and Sun Life Financial. Most recently he was Regional Vice President of the Northeast Region for Sun Life.

FARA, based in Mandeville, La., appointed Todd Higley as vice president of sales and marketing. Higley is responsible for nationwide business development with an emphasis on self-insured funds, risk retention groups and programs, as well as building partnerships with domestic and international brokers and carriers. He is based in Florida.

Higley recently served as vice president of Brown & Brown’s Public Risk Insurance Agency in Lake Mary, Fla. Higley previously served as a producer with Heffernan Insurance Brokers Inc. and Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. He began his insurance career with FARA managing sales and marketing operations in Texas. FARA is a nationwide insurance services provider to insurance companies, self-insured corporations and governmental entities.

Reinsurance and risk intermediary Benfield has created a dedicated capital markets unit within Benfield Advisory, its specialist corporate finance and advisory business. The new unit will be led by Michael Steel in London, in conjunction with Edward Torres and Ron Collins in New York. It will handle non-traditional risk transfer solutions including sidecars, catastrophe bonds, industry loss warranties (ILW), collateralized reinsurance, derivatives and other indexed linked securities. It will also manage a dedicated “ILW Desk” to enhance the group’s offering in this market.

The Capital Markets Division will operate alongside Benfield Advisory’s existing Corporate Advisory Division, which offers strategic advice on corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs and capital raising. The Corporate Advisory Division is led by Tristan McDonald in London and Scott Maries in New York.

At the same time, Mike Cain has been appointed as chief operating officer and general counsel for Benfield Advisory. Cain comes from Benfield’s legal team.

W. R. Berkley Corp. in Greenwich, Conn., has named Robert W. Standen president of Key Risk Insurance Co. and its affiliate, Key Risk Management Services Inc., both based in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Key Risk sells workers’ compensation to employers throughout the Eastern United States.

Standen has been with Key Risk since 2003, and most recently served as its executive vice president and chief claims officer. He has more than 18 years of experience in the commercial insurance and third party administration industries.

Standen succeeds, as president, Joe W. Sykes, who will continue in his role as Key Risk’s chairman and chief executive officer.

Topics USA New York Agencies Excess Surplus London