People – West

Wesley J. Kinder was a California insurance commissioner who served during a turbulent time.

Kinder, a resident of La Habra, Calif., died on July 25 at age 94.

“He was a great guy. He was the best boss,” said Roger McNitt, a San Diego-based attorney who served as Kinder’s chief assistant insurance commissioner.

Kinder was appointed insurance commissioner by Gov. Jerry Brown during his first stint as the state’s governor and served from 1975 to 1980.

He was born in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sept. 8, 1921. He got into the insurance industry through the mail room at Hawkeye Mutual in Iowa and “worked his way from nothing,” McNitt said.

Kinder later became the regional manager for General Re on the West coast, and served as executive vice president of Freemont Indemnity.

He served as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 1980.

“He was very knowledgeable in reinsurance and property/casualty insurance,” McNitt said.

Kinder came into office as California insurance commissioner when the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, MICRA, was being hammered out. Among its many changes to the state’s medical malpractice landscape, it capped non-economic damages.

San Mateo, Calif.-based Worldwide Broker Network’s board of directors has elected Francie Starnes as CEO.

Starnes succeeds Bruce Basso, who becomes chairman emeritus.

Starnes was named WBN president and chief operating officer a year ago. Starnes was with American International Group for 23 years, most recently as vice president of its commercial distribution group and manager of independent broker networks for AIG property/casualty.

She had previously served in executive positions focusing on International Employee Benefits and new business development targeting Fortune 500 multinationals.

WBN has more than 100 member firms.

Reno, Nev.-based LP Insurance Services Inc. has named Adam Cleghorn to its Northern Nevada team.

Cleghorn previously worked for Basalite Concrete Products in Sparks.

He has been in the risk management industry for more than 15 years.

LP Insurance Services is a risk management and commercial insurance brokerage firm.

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has added David Wood and Joshua Rosenberg to the firm’s litigation department and insurance recovery and counseling practice group.

The firm also added John Corbett as counsel in Dallas, Texas.

The trio arrives from Anderson Kill’s Ventura, Calif., office, where Wood served as co-managing shareholder.

Wood, a partner, and Rosenberg, an associate, are both based in Barnes & Thornburg’s Los Angeles office.

Wood has more than 30 years of experience in insurance disputes and recovery litigation involving Fortune 1000 corporations and corporate directors and officers. He represents publicly- and privately-owned corporations in enforcing their claims under professional errors and omissions, D&O liability, special risk and general liability policies and fidelity bonds. He also assists clients on insurance coverage matters concerning data breaches and other cybersecurity issues.

Rosenberg works with policyholders within his insurance recovery practice and also concentrates on corporate and commercial litigation. He previously worked as a land use and planning legal consultant. Rosenberg was a judicial intern for Hon. Dana M. Sabraw in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California prior to that.

Corbett represents corporate policyholders in a variety of industries ranging from construction and transportation to telecommunications and healthcare management. He has experience in obtaining recoveries under general liability, cyber insurance, D&O and professional errors and omissions policies.

Barnes & Thornburg has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Delaware, Indiana, Los Angeles, Michigan, Minneapolis, Ohio and Washington, D.C.

JLT Re has named Pete Chandler executive vice president and managing broker.

He will be based in JLT Re’s San Francisco, Calif., office and report to Ed Hochberg, CEO of JLT Re in North America.

Chandler comes from Marsh, where he was leader for the Western Region. He was chief operating officer for Guy Carpenter in North America prior to that.

He has also held other roles at Marsh and Benfield.

JLT Re is part of the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc.

Topics California