People & Places

National

Starwind Specialty Insurance Services named Graham Jenks the president of JH Blades Group, which encompasses JH Blades Energy, JH Blades Marine, Southern Marine, and Energy Technical Underwriters. JH Blades is a specialty platform of Starwind Specialty Insurance Services, a CRC Group company headquartered in New York City.

Jenks has served as president of Southern Marine for eight years. He previously served at the company as a vice president and marine underwriter. Before joining the company in 2012, Jenks was a marine cargo broker at Price Forbes and Partners.

Richard Martin, long-time leader of JH Blades, has retired following a career spanning many years of service.

Michael Gonzales joined Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, as first vice president with the value-based healthcare and risk management solutions team within its employee benefits group.

Based in North Carolina, Gonzales will work closely with clients across the healthcare spectrum. Gonzales has over 20 years of experience in business development, sales operations, and go-to-market strategy, as well as 15 years of experience focused on partnering with hospitals, health systems, physician provider groups, and Managed Service Organizations (MSOs). Before joining Alliant, Gonzales most recently served as vice president of sales at MedEvolve.

Former Willis Group Holdings CEO Joe Plumeri was named to the new role of chairman at Insurance Advisory Partners (IAP). He will start the role on September 1. Plumeri served as chairman and CEO of Willis Group, beginning in 2000, after previously serving as CEO of Citibank, North America. He then joined KKR & Co., a former investor in Willis Group, as a senior adviser.

Mosaic Insurance, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, promoted Yosha DeLong to the new role of global engagement officer and hired cyber and technology liability executive Brian Bonkoski to lead the company’s cyber business.

Based in Chicago, Illinois, DeLong has built Mosaic’s cyber business since the company’s launch in 2021, spanning a global footprint that includes the U.S., Canada, Bermuda, the U.K., Germany, and the United Arab Emirates.

Bonkoski, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the global head of cyber at Mosaic. He has 20 years of experience in underwriting and distribution leadership, with previous executive roles at Chubb and AIG. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and head of field operations at Chubb.

East

Big “I” New York, a trade association for independent insurance agents in New York, has elected Kelly Gonyo as chair of the board for the 2025-2026 term. Gonyo is the founder and president of Blue Line Insurance Agency, headquartered in Lake Placid, New York. Gonyo has served on the Big “I” New York Board of Directors since 2020, previously holding the roles of vice chair and secretary/treasurer.

Also elected to the executive committee was David Borg, who will serve a one-year term as vice chair and secretary/treasurer. Borg is a past president of Big “I” Suffolk and a former Chair of the Big “I” NY NextGen Committee.

Gonyo and Borg join David Bodenstein (immediate past chair) and Ron Brunell (national director).

Big I New York members also elected regional directors: Lisa Hussainov of Walsh Duffield Companies Inc. in Buffalo, New York, to a two-year term representing the West Central region; Eric Diamond of Marshall & Sterling in Chappaqua to a two-year term representing the East North region; Eileen Frank of J.P. West Inc. in New York, to a two-year representing the Metro Suburban region; and Robert Bleistein of Eastern Classic Coverage Insurance Agency on Long Island, to a two-year term representing the Metro Suburban region.

Big “I” NY’s regional directors are Mike Zwas, Deena McCullough, Emmanuel Osuyah, Rob Bowen Jr., and Doug Benz, and at-large directors are Frank Marullo and Sydney Roe.

Ryan Specialty, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, has appointed Brad Storey as president of Irwin Siegel Agency (ISA), a social service industry-focused managing general underwriter that is part of the Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers division of Ryan Specialty. 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.

Davis & Towle Insurance Group, headquartered in Concord, New Hampshire, named former New Hampshire Insurance Commissioner Christopher (Chris) Nicolopoulos as the agency’s new CEO.

Jeffrey Towle, previously the agency’s president, has been appointed chairman of the board, while his son, Ryan Towle, who was previously vice president, has assumed the role of president.

Nicolopoulos previously served as president and CEO of the New Hampshire Association of Insurance Agents and New Hampshire’s insurance commissioner. Most recently, he held a regional government affairs position at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.

Sandra Margeson has assumed the role of chief financial officer and treasurer.

Lori Tobin is now vice president, personal lines/branch management.

Brian Parsons has been promoted to vice president, sales.

Midwest

Frankenmuth Insurance, headquartered in Frankenmuth, Michigan, appointed Kelly Ott as chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Ott is the company’s top legal advisor, overseeing corporate legal matters, governance, and regulatory compliance across all Frankenmuth Insurance companies and subsidiaries.

Ott has over 30 years of experience in private practice and in-house legal leadership. She previously served as legislative and regulatory counsel and managing attorney for claims litigation at State Farm, as vice president and assistant general counsel at Horace Mann, and most recently as vice president and counsel at The Hanover Group.

Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company, headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, made three executive team changes.

Gabe Brown was named vice president, sales and operations – Brotherhood Works – affiliates. He joined Brotherhood Mutual in 2000 as an assistant underwriter and most recently served as assistant vice president, sales and special markets, since 2015. He has also held the positions of property claims adjuster, senior marketing specialist, and manager of the special markets division.

Drew Smith is now vice president of marketing. He joins Brotherhood Mutual after over 27 years with American Specialty Insurance & Risk Services, Inc., where he served as vice president, client services, and chief marketing officer and was president of the company for over nine years. He most recently served as a senior advisor.

Mitzi Thomas has had a 30-year career with Brotherhood Mutual, where she has served as vice president of marketing for the past 12 years.

With plans to retire at the end of 2025, Thomas has stepped into the role of vice president and marketing advisor. She previously served as marketing communications manager, assistant vice president of corporate communications.

Wallace & Turner Inc., located in Springfield and Urbana, Ohio, named four new equity partners. All are based in the Springfield office.

Ben Galbreath has nearly two decades of experience in personal, commercial, life, and supplemental benefits insurance.

Jason Heims has been with Wallace & Turner since 2007, specializing in both personal and commercial lines and overseeing claims management.

Mary Jo Leventhal serves as director of operations and business development.

Myles Trempe is a second-generation Wallace & Turner employee, handling both personal and commercial lines coverage.

Southeast

Lake Mary, Florida-based Trident Reciprocal Exchange, launched in 2024, named Ryan Hodges as CEO. Hodges has 25 years in the property and casualty insurance business and was previously vice president of commercial insurance for Bankers Insurance Group. Hodges also worked as a commercial underwriting manager for Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

West

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek named Sean O’Day as acting director of the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS).

O’Day is currently the deputy director for DCBS.

He replaces Andrew R. Stolfi, who the Oregon State Senate recently confirmed to be the director of the Oregon Employment Department. Stolfi presently serves as both the DCBS director and the Oregon insurance commissioner.

O’Day has over 20 years of public service experience in Oregon, previously serving as the deputy director of the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs, executive director of the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments, general counsel for the League of Oregon Cities, deputy city attorney and deputy city manager for Salem, deputy legal counsel to the Office of the Governor, and law clerk to the chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court.

TK Keen, deputy insurance commissioner and administrator of DCBS’ Division of Financial Regulation, will serve as acting insurance commissioner. Keen has led several National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ working groups. Before joining the division, he practiced law as a sole practitioner in Washington, with a focus on employment law cases.

Coalition, headquartered in San Francisco, California, hired Ilsa Derfus as its director of capacity. Derfus is responsible for managing relationships with carrier partners and will serve as the primary point of contact for all capacity-related matters.

Derfus joins Coalition from McGill & Partners, where she was a partner and previously worked with Coalition and other clients in a reinsurance brokerage capacity. In the decade before McGill, Derfus served as an associate director at Aon Benfield and a pro-rata technician at Guy Carpenter.