View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-people/2018/08/06/496792.htm
Paragon Insurance Holdings LLC is expanding in San Diego, Calif., with the opening of a new office in downtown and the hiring of Robert Etzler.
He will serve as senior vice president and director of workers’ compensation.
Prior to joining Paragon, Etzler held leadership roles at Cypress Point – Arrowhead General Insurance Agency (now Arrowhead General Insurance Agency), Atlas General Insurance Services, and most recently, Midwestern Insurance Alliance.
Paragon is a national multi-line specialty managing general agency.
Sacramento, Calif.-based Warren G. Bender Co. has named Lisa Bracero an account executive the commercial lines department.
She has 15 years of experience in commercial insurance.
She was previously a field sales manager at Nationwide.
Warren G. Bender is an independent family-owned insurance brokerage.
Stone Creek Insurance Agency has named Rochelle Lesser as junior account manager in the downtown Spokane, Wash., office.
Lesser will help grow the Spokane office.
She comes to Stone Creek with prior experience at both Travelers and State Farm.
Lafayette, Calif.- based Stone Creek is an insurance brokerage that specializes in property/casualty coverage in Western U.S. and Florida.
Napa, Calif.-based The Doctors Co. has named Kerin Torpey Bashaw senior vice president of patient safety and risk management.
Bashaw reports to Bill Fleming, chief operating officer.
Bashaw has more than 20 years of experience. She has held a variety of positions in healthcare organizations, most recently as corporate vice president of quality for Verity Health Systems. She has also served as system vice president of quality for Alameda Health System, and has held other positions as patient safety officer, and director of clinical services and operations.
The Doctors Co. is a physician-owned medical malpractice insurer with 79,000 members and more than $4.8 billion in reported assets.
WSS, part of XPT, a new specialty insurance distribution company, has named Lynn Bertram senior broker/underwriter in the commercial lines department, while Stefanie McLeod will serve as vice president and senior production underwriter in the personal lines department.
Bertram previously spent 15 years at Monarch as a broker/underwriter, and most recently as manager of their commercial lines department.
McLeod, who was also with Monarch, ran their personal umbrella department for the past 16 years. With WSS she will be tasked with expanding the personal lines department writing personal umbrellas, homeowners and other ancillary personal lines products.
WSS, which provides retail brokers a commercial and personal lines products, with access to both admitted and non-admitted markets, is headquartered in Plano, Texas.
XPT is a new specialty insurance distribution company.
PEMCO Insurance has named Diane Geurts a communication manager for the company’s marketing department.
Geurts has spent 20 years working in marketing and communications roles.
Geurts will support PEMCO’s employee communication efforts, and will also contribute to ongoing strategic communication initiatives.
Prior to joining PEMCO, Geurts held marketing and communications roles at companies including Wendy’s, Tully’s Coffee and online legal service company Avvo.
PEMCO Insurance provides auto, home and boat insurance.
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has named Allen Kwan head sales for the West region.
Kwan will be responsible for the growth of the Western region, particularly within Los Angeles. Currently based in San Francisco, he will relocate to Los Angeles in 2019. He succeeds Jennifer Knox, who was appointed head of U.S. West earlier in the year.
Kwan has 15 years of insurance experience. Since joining Corporate Solutions in 2012, he has held various positions within underwriting and sales. Most recently, he was the business development manager for the West region.
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions serves the commercial insurance sector by providing financial protection from a wide range of risks to mid-sized and large corporations.