People – Southeast

Chubb has launched its Small Commercial Insurance division for North America, which will offer management and professional liability and standard insurance coverages for small businesses with annual revenues up to $10 million.

The insurer said Chubb Small Commercial Insurance, which already has financial lines products, will release new products, including an enhanced business owner policy (BOP) and supporting umbrella in the U.S., later in 2016.

As previously announced, Jim Williamson is president of the new division and will report to Paul J. Krump, president, North American Commercial and Personal Lines. Prior to ACE’s acquisition of Chubb in January 2016, Williamson was division president of ACE Private Risk Services.

The following division leaders will report to Williamson:

Michelle Middleton will serve as chief operating officer. She was previously Eastern territory underwriting branch manager and senior vice president, Chubb & Son, and has held other leadership roles with Chubb for nearly 30 years. Reporting to Middleton are Carla Owens and Michelle Shaver.

Owens will be the Financial and Professional Lines leader. Previously, she served as vice president, Small Business Solutions Program Manager, Chubb Specialty. She has 15 years of industry experience.

Shaver will be the BOP Product leader. She previously was senior vice president-Commercial Risk Services, ACE Limited, and has 25 years of insurance experience.

B.C. Verniero will lead Platform Development. He formerly was senior vice president, Chubb & Son, and senior manager for Business Partner Services, IT Strategy and Operations.

Jon Farber will be Technology and Life Sciences Product leader. He previously served as senior vice president of Technology and Life Sciences, ACE Limited.

Reporting to Farber is Patrick Thielen, who will be Cyber Product leader and will support product and underwriting initiatives in Technology and Life Sciences. Previously, he served as vice president, Technology and Life Sciences Underwriting, ACE Limited.

Jay Weber will serve as head of Sales. He joined Chubb from The Hartford, where he held multiple sales, product and distribution leadership roles. Before that, he served in several small commercial roles with Travelers.

Dean Brown will head up Analytics and Marketing. He most recently served as vice president, Business Analytics, ACE Private Risk Services, and has prior industry experience with Aon and Deloitte Consulting.

Tom Van Pelt will be division finance officer. He previously was division finance officer, Chubb Global Accident & Health, and has been with Chubb for nearly 15 years.

Jim Healey will lead the Actuarial department. He most recently managed Chubb’s corporate catastrophe modeling unit.

Charles Silla will be head of Human Resources. He most recently was senior vice president, Human Resources, ACE Limited.

The Crichton Group, an independent insurance agency located in Nashville, has hired industry veteran Dan Hite as commercial insurance advisor. Hite will focus on commercial insurance and risk management.

He is a former executive vice president at Brown & Brown of Tennessee, Inc., where he spent the last 30 years working with healthcare, specialty general liability, construction and financial institutions.

Hite first began his career at Cooper, Love & Jackson. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers and The Hanover Regional Agents Advisory Council.

Socius Insurance Services, Inc., has hired Dan Mittelmark to join its management and professional liability practice as assistant vice president. Dan will be based in Socius’s Miami Beach, Florida office.

Mittelmark has focused his insurance career on management and professional lines while specializing in hard-to-place and distressed risks. Mittelmark has worked with all management and professional liability lines with a special focus on lawyers, architects and engineers, and EPLI.

Socius Insurance Services, Inc. is a property/casualty and management liability wholesale broker.

The Hartford Chairman and CEO Christopher J. Swift became chairman of the board of directors of the American Insurance Association (AIA), serving a one-year term. Swift succeeds Michael S. McGavick, CEO of XL Group, as chairman.

“I look forward to working with the board of directors and AIA staff on important policy issues, such as the pace of technological change, cyber security risk and the changing regulatory environment, each of which have important consequences for consumers, our industry and the regulatory community,” said Swift.

In March 2010, Swift was named executive vice president and chief financial officer of The Hartford. He became CEO in June 2014.

Topics Chubb