People

The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas has honored Corpus Christi, Texas, independent insurance agent Wallace C. (Wally) Goodman with the Drex Foreman Award; Landon Ogilvie, partner at Gans & Smith Agency in Longview, with the André P. Juneau Young Agent of the Year award; and Stacey Boldt, assistant branch manager with Town & Country Insurance in Galveston, with the Accredited Customer Service Representative (ACSR) of the Year award.

Named after Drex Foreman, who served as the chief executive director of IIAT for more than 30 years, the Drex Foreman Award is the highest honor IIAT bestows annually to an independent agent who has contributed greatly to the independent agency system.

Goodman is the vice president of Borden Insurance Agency in Corpus Christi and has served the independent agency system at several levels for 26 years, including on the board and as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Coastal Bend. He is also a past president of IIAT and has served on several IIAT committees. He has chaired the association’s catastrophe pool committee and served on the property and membership committees. Goodman has served on the board of directors of the Insurance Publishing House and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association board.

The André P. Juneau Young Agent of the Year award is given annually to a young agent in Texas who has achieved success through hard work, community engagement and industry participation in a manner that would be considered exceptional for a person of his or her age.

Ogilvie joined Gans & Smith, one of the oldest independent insurance agencies in Texas, in 2003.

He served on IIAT’s Young Agents Advisory Council, eventually chairing the group for two years. Ogilvie was instrumental in the development of the young agent recruiting video in 2008 and has represented Texas young agents on a national level at young agent leadership conferences and at the Big “I” Legislative Convention in Washington, D.C. Ogilvie is also very active at the local level, serving as the local association’s Big “I” tournament director and assisting in IMPACT solicitations.

The ACSR of the Year award is given annually to an ACSR who exemplifies outstanding leadership and service to the independent agency system and to the public.

Boldt began her insurance career in 1996 when she went to work for her mom who was an American National managing agent. She acquired her property/casualty and life and health licenses in 1999, and had her own American National agency from 1999 to 2002.

In 2003, Boldt joined Town & Country Insurance in Galveston as an account manager for personal lines. After three years she was promoted to personal lines manager, and in November 2008, just after Hurricane Ike, she was promoted to assistant branch manager.

Boldt displayed her excellent ACSR skills and commitment to her customers following Hurricane Ike. After two feet of water closed the Galveston office, she worked tirelessly, even on the weekends, to help hundreds of people with thousands of claims. She also helped her branch manager handle the personnel problems of a shorthanded staff affected by the storm. Boldt set up an outdoor office in the parking lot of the storm-damaged Galveston office to help customers who were in desperate situations.

Eric R. McGinnes has been named senior vice president at El Paso, Texas-based insurance brokerage and risk management firm, JDW Insurance. Currently McGinnes, who joined JDW Insurance in 2003, is vice president of the Commercial Lines Division.

McGinnes is regional vice president of Insurance Men and Women’s Political Action Committee of Texas (IMPACT) and the current vice president of Independent Insurance Agents of El Paso. He is a Texas Licensed Risk Manager and holds the professional designations of Commercial Lines Coverage Specialist and Certified Insurance Counselor.

FARA Insurance Services, a Mandeville, La.-based provider of claims administration and risk management solutions, has added Cherie Arceneaux Pinac to its senior management team.

Pinac will serve as vice president for FARA’s Louisiana State Office of Risk Management Account based in Baton Rouge. She will be responsible for all claims and loss control operations involving the ORM account.

Pinac brings more than 15 years of experience in the legal and compliance segments of the insurance industry. Before joining FARA, she served as vice president and general counsel for LWCC (Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation).

Cline Wood Agency Inc., with headquarters in the Kansas City, Mo. area, has added Jack Gagliardi to its Transportation team as vice president and director of the Independent Contractor Division.

Gagliardi is a veteran insurance and risk management professional in the trucking industry and has broad experience with all sizes of trucking companies. In his former role as executive vice president with the company that is now Wells Fargo, Gagliardi focused on trucking companies ranging in size from one power unit up to a few hundred. He also has served as the Transportation Division national practice leader for Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. and as the practice leader for Marsh Transportation.

Cline Wood Agency specializes in the transportation and agribusiness industries. Cline Wood serves clients nationwide with an additional sales and service office in Arlington, Texas.

Hartwig Moss Benefits has added Shawn Rutland to the agency’s client service team as client relations associate in its New Orleans, La., office. Rutland will be the firm’s primary contact for service issues while providing human resource consulting services as needed.

Following graduation Mississippi State University, Rutland worked for a large national hotel chain on-boarding over 1,500 employees. After this experience, she was hired by a large regional engineering firm as a human resource generalist where she worked for four years handling employee relations, supervisory coaching and training/development before assuming the roles of the HR manager.

BancorpSouth Insurance Services President Markham McKnight has been re-elected as treasurer of the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA) board.

McKnight brings 28 years of experience to his position. In addition to his role as president of BancorpSouth Insurance Services, McKnight also leads Wright and Percy Insurance, a division of BancorpSouth Insurance Services Inc.

LIGA is a private, non-profit entity designed to create a safety net for insurance consumers if their insurer becomes insolvent during the period of their policy coverage.

Will D. Davis, a Texas attorney specializing in insurance law, has joined the Austin, Texas, office of Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons LLP.

Davis, a former general counsel for the Texas Department of Insurance, joined Thompson Coe from the Heath, Davis & McCalla law firm, of which he was one of the founders. He also has served as an Assistant Attorney General of Texas.

Davis is active in representing insurance company clients before the Texas Legislature, the Texas Department of Insurance, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and other state insurance regulatory authorities on all matters pertaining to insurance, with particular emphasis upon insurance legislation, examination, investments, financial activities, acquisitions, mergers, reinsurance and affiliate transactions under insurance holding company laws.

Steven D. Johnson was named CEO of the Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet). Johnson has held staff leadership roles in five associations during the last 26 years. He succeeds Rick Morgan, who has been serving for the last 10 months as interim CEO.