People – West

Leavitt Group of Boise has hired Deana Wood and Marisa Wood for its office in Idaho.

The two are unrelated. Deana is a commercial account manager, and will service and maintain existing accounts and handle policy inquires. Marisa is an operations specialist providing assistance to the team and developing and conducting employee fitness competitions.

Deana has been working in the insurance industry since 1987 and worked for the Leavitt Group earlier in her career. Marisa is a student at Boise State University studying exercise physiology.

The Leavitt Group is a privately-held insurance brokerage and provides property/casualty insurance, risk management, employee benefits solutions and other services.

Los Angeles, Calif.-based Topa Insurance Group named John Donahue president and chief executive officer. He will provide leadership to all business endeavors of the organization.

Donahue has 20 years of experience. Before Topa Insurance he concurrently served as president of Keenan Insurance Management Group and chief executive offer of Greenpath Insurance Co. Donahue has worked for GMAC Insurance, MAPFRE/Commerce West and the California State Automobile Association.

Topa Insurance is a property/casualty insurer. Its parent company, Topa Equities Ltd., is a privately held holding company with interests in insurance, automobile dealerships, beverage distribution and real estate.

Employers named Aaron Mikulsky as senior vice president of business process and policyholder services.

He will be based out of Employers’ headquarters in Reno, Nev.

Mikulsky has more than 19 years of experience, including experience in underwriting, information technology, operations and business process reengineering. He joins Employers from CNA, where he was the small business underwriting director of strategy and analytics. Prior to that, Mikulsky held various positions with Arch Insurance Group.

Employers Holdings Inc. is a holding company with subsidiaries that are specialty providers of workers’ compensation insurance and services.

Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Heffernan Insurance Brokers named Jani De La Rosa as director of employee benefits and senior vice president.

De La Rosa will be responsible for managing benefit program designs, benefit strategies and business development. De La Rosa will also serve as a sales leader for the headquarter office’s employee benefits staff.

De La Rosa has more than 29 years of industry experience. She started in the insurance industry as an administrative assistant and worked her way up to running a benefits practice with more than 45 employees and $10 million in revenue.

She worked at Heffernan for 18 years before leaving the company two years ago to pursue a management opportunity, and ultimately returned to Heffernan.

Heffernan’s California offices are in San Francisco, Petaluma, Menlo Park, Los Angeles and Orange County. It also has offices in Portland, Ore.; St. Louis, Mo.; and New York, N.Y.

Capital Insurance Group named Bruce Ostrem the regional field executive for Southern California.

CIG recently created the new Southern California region, consisting of Ventura, Anaheim and San Diego territories. CIG recruited Ostrem for the new executive position.

Ostrem has 35 years of insurance experience. Most recently, he spent three years in Washington as a vice president overseeing the largest West Coast agricultural book of business written by QBE (formerly Unigard).

CIG manages personal, business and agriculture risks underwritten by its affiliate companies: California Capital Insurance Co.; Eagle West Insurance Co.; Nevada Capital Insurance Co.; and Monterey Insurance Co.

Beecher Carlson Insurance Services LLC named Danielle Ramberg as business development specialist in the Woodland Hills, Calf. office.

Ramberg will be responsible for the development and execution of strategies for large account clients with complex casualty risks, specifically expanding the presence of Beecher Carlson on the West Coast. She reports to Scott Davis, president of casualty and property.

Most recently, Ramberg was with Orion Risk Management Services Inc., where she was responsible for distribution of captive insurance company solutions.

Prior to that, she served as a client associate at Barney and Barney LLC and was responsible for all aspects of managing client relationships in California, including identifying claims history drivers, and assisted in implementation of loss reduction plans to lower overall costs for them.

Ramberg also has experience creating business plans for and managing captive insurance programs.

Atlanta, Ga.-based Beecher Carlson is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc.

Topics California