People & Places

National

Bennett Himes is joining Zurich North America, headquartered in Schaumberg, Illinois, as the new head of underwriting for U.S. middle market. Himes succeeds John Diaz, who will lead Zurich’s customer and distribution management function. Himes has over 24 years of property and casualty insurance experience, including 22 years with Chubb North America. He most recently served as executive vice president and casualty leader for Chubb’s middle market division, covering the U.S. and Canada.

Cowbell, headquartered in Pleasanton, California promoted Matthieu Chan Tsin to senior vice president, Cowbell Resiliency Services (CRS), a new initiative launched to help U.S. and U.K. businesses strengthen their cyber defenses in response to the growing scale and complexity of AI-driven threats. Before joining Cowbell, he held senior roles at AIG, in the U.S. intelligence community and in academia and has worked in 11 countries.

Chubb Limited, with U.S. headquarters in Warren, New Jersey, named Tim Boroughs vice chairman, Chubb Group and executive chairman, asset management. Chris Hogan has been promoted to senior vice president, Chubb Group and chief investment officer, reporting to Boroughs.

Boroughs has served as chief investment officer of Chubb and predecessor company ACE since joining the firm in 2000. He was appointed executive vice president, ACE Group, in March 2014. Before joining ACE, Boroughs was director of fixed income at Tudor Investment Corporation and managing partner and director of global leveraged investment activity at Fischer Francis Trees & Watts.

Hogan joined Chubb in 2023 from Goldman Sachs where he served for 22 years, most recently as a fixed income portfolio manager, head of the global securitized investment team and co-chief investment officer for GSAM’s fixed income hedge fund.

Zurich North America, headquartered in Schaumberg, Illinois, appointed Tobias “Toby” Cushing as head of construction. Cushing returns to the construction team after serving most recently as deputy chief underwriting officer at Zurich. Since joining Zurich in 2022 as head of construction casualty, he has held several underwriting leadership roles. Prior to joining Zurich, he held senior positions at The Hartford, including head of construction.

World Insurance Associates LLC, headquartered in Iselin, New Jersey, named Michelle Youshock head of personal lines, replacing Jim Hickey, who is taking over carrier consolidation efforts. Youshock, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, has nearly two decades of experience in the insurance industry, specializing in sales performance and management. Most recently, she was regional director for personal lines/small commercial and regional sales leader for personal lines Assured Partners.

Intact Insurance Specialty Solutions, headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota, appointed Aaron Belair as president of technology for its North American operations. Based in San Francisco, California, Belair formerly served as head of liability, profin and technology for RSA Luxembourg in Europe. Since joining Intact in 2019, Belair has held various leadership positions spanning technology, multinational and, most recently, European casualty.

East

Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC) appointed Kevin M. Snyder to a five-year term as a business representative.

Snyder is director of sales and marketing for A.I.M. Mutual Insurance Companies, based in Burlington, Massachusetts. He has over 20 years of workers’ compensation experience and joined A.I.M. Mutual in 2010 as a regional underwriting manager. He was promoted to senior manager-underwriting in 2016, named director of business development in 2021 and director of sales and marketing the following year.

Before A.I.M. Mutual, he was a treaty reinsurance broker with Guy Carpenter & Company LLC, for eight years.

The MEMIC Group, headquartered in Portland, Maine, promoted Denise Amoateng to director of legal, risk and privacy and Taylor Finn to director of financial accounting.

Amoateng joined the company in 2024. Licensed to practice law in Connecticut and certified in U.S. Data Privacy, Amoateng supports the chief risk officer by spearheading legal analysis, risk assessment, regulatory compliance, and data privacy initiatives while collaborating with external counsel on critical legal matters.

Finn has eight years of financial accounting and workers’ compensation experience and joined MEMIC in 2016. Finn leads the financial accounting and loss-sensitive reporting teams while supporting both the chief risk officer and chief financial officer.

Paul Roberts joined Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, as senior vice president within its employee benefits group. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the consultant has expertise in employee benefits, risk management and retirement consulting to service a diverse national client base.

Before joining Alliant, Roberts served as senior vice president in the Boston office of Lockton Companies. Previous roles include senior vice president at USI Insurance Services.

Protecdiv, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hired David Castillo as executive vice president (EVP) and national construction practice leader.

In this newly created role, Castillo leads strategic growth and development. Castillo has over 30 years of expertise in surety and property & casualty insurance. He previously held senior positions at USI Insurance Services, Marsh, and Willis and also served as CEO of The Gray Casualty & Surety Company.

Ryan Specialty, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, appointed Brad Storey to president of Irwin Siegel Agency (ISA), the social service industry focused managing general underwriter which is a part of the Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers division. ISA is headquartered in Rock Hill, New York.

Storey has been with the Irwin Siegel business for over 17 years and is currently executive vice president of the managing general underwriter.

With this appointment, Howard Siegel becomes executive chairman of ISA.

Midwest

Advocus National Title Insurance Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, named Mike Moore senior vice president of Illinois operations. Moore has been part of Advocus (formerly ATG) for over 30 years, and most recently served as vice president of special markets.

Prior to joining Advocus, he served for over a decade as president of NLT Title, a division of Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund Inc.

South Central

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, recruited Corey LaFlamme to assume the role of president, captives and specialty programs.

LaFlamme has over 20 years of experience and joins Skyward Specialty from The Hartford, most recently serving as head of programs.

The company also named Kirby Hill to the role of chairman, captives and specialty programs.

Southeast

Hiscox, headquartered in Atlanta, Georga, appointed Nick Mabunay to SVP, head of digital partnerships. Mabunay will lead digital partnerships, ensuring their strategic success and continued development.

Mabunay joins Hiscox from Next Insurance, most recently serving as director of partnerships. Before Next, Mabunay held leadership roles with Liberty Mutual Insurance, including assistant vice president of strategic partnerships and director of business strategy.

West

Vivien Rothwell joined Cowbell, headquartered in Pleasanton, California, as controller.

Rothwell has over 20 years of experience in corporate finance and accounting, working across the real estate, insurance and FinTech sectors. She most recently served as director of accounting at NSC.

Previous roles include assistant global controller at McLarens and assistant controller, assistant vice president, finance, North America at AXIS Capital.

The Buckner Company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, appointed Joshua Kettler as president.

Kettler has experience spanning strategy, operations and executive advisory roles. Most recently, he served as a chief of staff and strategy consultant, including roles with the executive teams at Cognixion and Better Place Forests.

He also served as a key partner to the head of global sales and customer experience at Patagonia.

Delos Insurance Solutions, headquartered in San Francisco, California, appointed Jeremy Coffman to the newly created role of chief revenue officer (CRO). Coffman previously served at Farmers/Zurich, Hartford Steam Boiler, American Modern and Munich Re.

As CRO, Coffman focuses on expanding Delos’ agency, carrier and B2B relationships and simplifying the producer engagement process, as well as forming alliances with specialty insurers to expand the Delos homeowners product portfolio.

Venbrook Group LLC, headquartered in Woodland Hills, California, promoted Jeff Lang to the newly created position of president, retail property and casualty.

Most recently, Lang served as the firm’s executive vice president, retail division. Lang joined Venbrook in 2022. Previous roles include executive vice president, P&C practice leader at USI Insurance Services, vice president – major account segment leader at Chubb and regional vice president at ESIS.

Golden Bear Insurance Company, headquartered in Stockton, California, hired Greg Hohman as chief underwriting officer.

Hohman has experience and expertise in the excess and surplus lines sector, most recently serving as chief underwriting officer at Munich Re Specialty Insurance.

Previous roles include head of domestic casualty – national accounts, Zurich North America. Hohman oversees both admitted and surplus lines underwriting across all lines of business and branch offices at Golden Bear.