People & Places

National

QBE North America has appointed Dan Fortin as president and Todd Greeley as chief operating officer for Financial Lines. Both executives joined QBE NA from Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance.

With the hires, QBE NA said it aims to expand its Management Liability, Professional Liability and Transactional Liability practices.

Fortin, who has nearly 30 years of insurance industry experience, has held a variety of financial lines senior leadership roles at BHSI and CNA Financial during his career. He also was a managing director for Aon Financial Services Group.

Greeley was previously a senior vice president for Executive & Professional Lines at BHSI. Prior to that, he led the financial lines claim group at CNA Financial for more than 10 years. Before joining the insurance industry, Greeley was an attorney in private practice in New York, with a commercial litigation focus representing executives, as well as financial lines insurers. He also served as an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for five years.

East

Selective Insurance has appointed two new members to its leadership team. Cyndi Bennett took the helm as the company’s new executive vice president and chief human resources officer (CHRO), and Giunero Floro has joined Selective as senior vice president and chief marketing officer. Both are based in Selective’s headquarters in Branchville, N.J.

As Selective’s CHRO, Bennett will be responsible for the company’s human resources strategy, including talent management, benefits, diversity and compensation. Prior to joining Selective in 2006 as assistant vice president of Compensation, she worked at Prudential Financial for nine years as director of Compensation for International Insurance and Investments. She was promoted to vice president of Compensation in 2009 and to vice president of Compensation and Benefits in 2012, where she has been responsible for the strategy, design, implementation and administration of Selective’s compensation and health and welfare benefits.

As chief marketing officer, Floro will be responsible for advancing Selective’s marketing, branding and communications strategy using traditional and digital, mobile and social media channels. Floro has more than 25 years of experience leading brand, marketing and digital programs for financial services companies. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and head of Brand and Digital Marketing at CIT Group, where he led brand and digital marketing strategy, insights, content and creative for commercial, small business and consumer banking. Prior to that, he worked at JPMorgan Chase & Co. as general manager and managing director, focused on revitalizing new card member acquisition and client satisfaction, and as chief marketing officer for brand loyalty. Earlier in his career, Floro held marketing roles of increasing responsibility at Ameriprise Financial and American Express.

UFG Insurance named Dave Lavallee as UFG Surety branch manager of the New England branch.

Lavallee previously served as surety branch manager for Tokio Marine HCC for the last 12 years. He has experience in both managing and growing a new branch. Prior to that, he was a regional bond manager in the New England area with Main Street America Group.

As surety branch manager, Lavallee will oversee the New England territory, which includes New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and New York.

Founded in 1946 as United Fire & Casualty Co., United Fire Group Inc. (UFG), through its insurance company subsidiaries, is engaged in the business of writing property and casualty insurance.

Southeast

CAC Specialty has made several new hires in its M&A Solutions Group.

Cameron Martin and Katie Flynn have been named senior vice presidents in the M&A Solutions Group, and Erica Kasperkowiak was named senior vice president of the newly created M&A Portfolio Solutions Practice – Human Capital Risk.

Martin previously led HAUSER’s Private Equity Risk Advisory Practice, where he had overall responsibility for the development, delivery and servicing of its private equity clients and its portfolio companies across all of HAUSER’s insurance segments.

Flynn, most recently, was responsible for Portfolio Management, which includes leading data-based

portfolio-wide risk management strategies and coordination of all elements of mergers and acquisitions due diligence with accountability for all services provided to her private equity partners.

The addition of Kasperkowiak brings human capital risk advisory expertise to the company’s Private Equity Practice through portfolio-wide human capital strategy development and health benefit products. Previous to HAUSER, Kasperkowiak was director for Alvarez & Marsal where, among other roles, she served as the outsourced portfolio insurance and human capital risk manager for a $14 billion private equity firm with more than 80 portfolio companies.

CAC Specialty, an integrated specialty insurance brokerage and investment banking business, continues to expand to provide services to private equity sponsors. It focuses on providing structured expertise and placement capabilities across the spectrum of insurance and alternative capital markets, serving large corporates, SMEs, private equity and other alternative fund managers.

Appalachian Underwriters Inc. (AUI) promoted three in-house Marketing team members in its Oak Ridge, Tenn., headquarters.

The three members will service agents in their specific territories.

The promotions include Dakota Stiles, who will service the Delta area, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Formerly the AUI Marketing coordinator, Stiles has more than a year of experience on the agency management side.

Katherine (Katie) Stevens works with agents in the Upper Midwest, including those in Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. In her previous role as AUI marketing specialist, Stevens worked with AUI’s insurtech partners and was a key player in the agency onboarding process.

Brittney Fryer, the newest member of AUI’s Marketing team, will handle the Northwest, including Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and Oklahoma. In her original role as AUI marketing specialist, Fryer worked on enrolling agents with AUI’s sub-appointed carriers.

Appalachian Underwriters Inc. is a full-service managing general agency and wholesale insurance brokerage, providing independent agents with a national outlet to markets for workers’ compensation, commercial specialty and personal lines of insurance.

South Central

Houston-based Skyward Specialty Insurance Group Inc. added Rick Childs as senior vice president of Construction to lead its growing construction business.

Childs brings 25 years of commercial insurance industry experience to this role, including the past decade focused on construction. Previously, he was the vice president of Middle Market Underwriting, Construction segment, at CNA Insurance, responsible for providing underwriting oversight and strategic direction for its middle market construction segment.

Formerly known as Houston International Insurance Group (HIIG), Skyward Specialty is a property/casualty insurance holding company formed in 2007 with nearly a billion dollars in premium and $2 billion in assets. The company has business in specialty lines, including management and professional liability, medical stop loss, surety, E&S property and liability, and large commercial property, as well as multi-line solutions for the energy, trucking and construction industries.

Midwest

Nexus Specialty hired Katie Schneider as assistant vice president of Management & Professional Liability in its Chicago, Ill., office.

The company also named William K. Fayette as senior underwriter of Management & Professional Liability, also based in Chicago.

Schneider will help build out Nexus Specialty’s MPL/E&O presence in the U.S. She has previously worked as an underwriter at Hiscox, and most recently at Argo, where she was a senior underwriter leading the Midwest team for Miscellaneous Professional Liability.

Fayette previously worked at Berkley Select (formerly Monitor Liability), where he spent the last three years as a Private Company Management Liability underwriter working with brokers on a national basis.

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) named Lauren Finnis as vice president of Customer & Broker Engagement for the Central region based in Chicago.

She previously served as vice president of Customer & Broker Engagement for the Eastern region. Finnis has more than a decade of industry experience. Before joining BHSI, Finnis held various roles focused on broker relationship management and global property underwriting.

West

Marsh has named Carlos Quinteros to lead its construction center in Los Angeles, Calif. Quinteros is responsible for delivering transactional and advisory services to construction clients throughout Southern California. Quinteros joins Marsh from Aon, where he spent the last 27 years, most recently leading the firm’s Los Angeles-based residential and real estate development group.

Newfront Insurance, a tech-enabled brokerage, added Mic De Fazio as a field sales leader.

De Fazio will lead brokers in developing client solutions and continuing the firm’s organic growth, and will join the sales leadership team.

He was previously a field sales leader with State Farm Insurance.

Fresno, Calif.-based United Valley Insurance Services Inc. has promoted Monika Aguirre and Elizabeth Newland.

Aguirre has been promoted to assistant vice president in member services. She will join the executive team and has also assumed primary responsibility as company relationship manager for the personal lines companies.

She joined United Valley in 2018 as a member relationship manager.

Newland has been promoted to compliance and quality manager. She joined United Valley in 2002 and has since served in roles including program underwriter, service team manager and surplus lines desk underwriter.

United Valley Insurance Services is a network of more than 85 independently owned insurance agencies with more than 100 locations in the Western U.S.