People – East

The Hanover Insurance Group Inc., the Worcester, Mass., based holding company for several property and casualty insurance companies, has elected Jane D. Carlin to the company’s board of directors.

Carlin is a senior executive with experience in information and cyber security, risk management, compliance and business governance with financial services companies.

Throughout her career, Carlin has served in senior roles with companies including Morgan Stanley Group and Credit Suisse Group.

She held a number of leadership roles at Morgan Stanley from 2006 to 2012 and previously from 1987 to 2003. Most recently, she was managing director and global head of financial holding company governance and assurance.

At Credit Suisse, Carlin was managing director and global head of bank operational risk oversight from 2003 to 2006.

Carlin served as a senior consultant with Bridgewater Associates LP from 2012 to 2015, and she has served as an advisor to the chief risk and compliance office at Bloomberg L.P. since 2014.

In 2010, Carlin was appointed by the U.S. Treasury Department to serve as chair of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security (FSSCC) and served in that role until 2012. Prior to that, from 2009 to 2010, she served as vice chair of the FSSCC and as chair of its Cyber Security Committee.

International law firm Alston & Bird has hired Adam Kaiser and John Aerni as partners in the firm’s New York office.

Both Kaiser and Aerni are senior litigators with more than 50 years of collective experience, previously working at Winston & Strawn LLP. The move will allow Alston & Bird to expand its litigation capabilities.

Kaiser’s practice focuses on complex commercial cases, principally in the areas of insurance, financial institutions, sports and entertainment, real estate and construction. He has more than 20 years’ experience representing insurance companies in litigation and arbitration, especially class actions.

Aerni brings more than 30 years of courtroom experience as lead counsel for insurer and financial services clients in dozens of complex litigation matters, particularly class actions involving life, health and long-term care insurance; annuities; property/casualty insurance, and other financial products.

Kaiser and Aerni are the most recent additions to Alston & Bird’s New York office. In November, the firm added Michael Saarinen as partner in its Investment Management, Trading & Markets Group. Earlier in the year, Blake Estes joined as counsel in the same group.

Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York (IIABNY) has promoted Brian R. Bixby to president of IAAC, the trade group’s service corporation that provides financial support to IIABNY by offering insurance products for the association’s members to sell and non-insurance products for members to use or market to their clients.

Bixby will succeed Lisa K. Lounsbury, who recently assumed the position of IIABNY interim president and CEO.

As president, Bixby will serve as chief liaison between IAAC and its volunteer board of directors, will provide oversight and monitoring of all IAAC programs, products and activities and will develop new program and product opportunities that benefit IIABNY member agencies and brokerages.

During the past six years, he served as assistant vice president of IAAC and was responsible for managing the financial performance and operations for the corporation’s errors and omissions and personal umbrella insurance programs.

Bixby joined IIABNY in 2001 as membership sales and service manager and served for two years as director of E&O and product sales for the association.

Cyence, a San Mateo, Calif., based company that works to empower the insurance industry to model the economic impact of cyber risk, has named John Merchant as director of business development.

He will be working with Cyence’s network of insurance customers to drive strategy and programs applying Cyence’s platform to realize cyber risk business value. Merchant will be based out of Cyence’s New York City office.

For nearly a decade, Merchant has worked with some of the world’s largest insurance companies to develop cyber-focused lines of business. Most recently, he oversaw the launch of the U.S. cyber underwriting division at Validus Specialty Underwriters.

Previously, Merchant led similar efforts for both Nationwide, where he grew its cyber and technology services, and AIG, where he led strategic sales and distribution for the full suite of AIG and Lexington cyber insurance products. Merchant has also held senior, cyber insurance-focused roles at Hartford Financial Products.

Topics New York