People

National

Allianz Commercial, with U.S. headquarters in New York City, named Mary Ann Stewart as regional head of liability, North America. Based in Chicago, Stewart is responsible for the strategic direction and management of Allianz Commercial’s North American liability portfolio and talent development across the U.S. and Canada. Stewart joins from Markel, where she most recently served as senior director, global casualty underwriting, within Markel’s casualty business line.

International specialty MGA Rokstone appointed Adrianna Allman and Charles Turgeon as senior underwriters in its North American inland marine division. Joining from AIG and based in Boston and San Francisco, respectively, they have expertise in inland marine trucking, extending Rokstone’s reach across North America.

Brokerage Lockton appointed Peter Rapciewicz as U.S. casualty leader. Rapciewicz has over 20 years of insurance industry experience, including over a decade of leadership at Lockton. Most recently, he served as alternative risk solutions practice leader.

Rapciewicz will oversee the strategic direction and growth of Lockton’s casualty offerings across the U.S.

Jessica Cullen was appointed head of excess casualty and operations. Cullen joined Lockton in 2024 as head of the U.S. casualty practice, London. She has 20 years of industry experience, most recently serving as managing director of the casualty practice at Gallagher. Cullen will report to Rapciewicz.

Hippo, headquartered in San Jose, California, appointed Robin Gordon as chief data officer. Gordon spent the past decade in executive roles as chief data officer and chief technology officer at global companies including Blackstone, KPMG and CoreLogic. She also served as global chief data and analytics officer at MetLife.

QBE North America, headquartered in New York City, appointed Jayne Cunningham as senior vice president and environmental underwriting leader.

Based in North Carolina, Cunningham has over 30 years of insurance experience, including more than 20 years of leadership in the environmental space. Before joining QBE, Cunningham previously held roles at Beazley, XL Capital, Zurich and AIG.

Howden US appointed Christine Palomba as deputy head, natural resources, Howden US, headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina. Palomba has 29 years of industry experience, most recently at Aon, as managing director, U.S. power and renewables practice leader. Palomba’s appointment follows the announcement of Mike Parrish as CEO, Howden US, to lead Howden’s U.S. retail broking business.

MSIG USA, headquartered in Warren, New Jersey, appointed Martin J. Sullivan as chairman of the board of MSIG Holdings (U.S.A.), Inc. With more than five decades of experience, Sullivan previously served as president and chief executive officer of AIG Inc., deputy chairman of Willis Group Holdings plc, and, most recently, senior advisor at Lightyear Capital LLC.

Chubb, headquartered in New York City, appointed Joe Gaspero as senior vice president, national account segment leader of major accounts excess casualty. Based in Philadelphia, Gaspero has nearly 15 years of insurance industry experience, joining Chubb in 2013. He most recently served as eastern region leader for major accounts excess casualty, managing underwriting operations.

East

AXA XL, in Stamford, Connecticut, hired Eric Judd as an executive underwriter on its energy underwriting team in the Americas in New York. With over three decades of experience, Judd previously served in senior underwriting roles at Zurich North America, Liberty International Underwriters and Starr Insurance.

Insurance broker Willis has appointed Steve Blumhagen as a producer in the Upstate New York market. Based in the Buffalo office, Blumhagen has over 10 years of experience in property/casualty insurance. He most recently served as practice leader for property and casualty at USI.

Insurance agent Jason Bartow was elected president of the Professional Insurance Agents of New York State (PIANY), an association for independent insurance agents. Bartow is commercial lines executive vice president of Eugene A. Bartow Insurance Agency Inc. and Jebb Brokerage Inc.

Bartow is co-chairperson of the PIA Northeast Regional Carrier Program; chairperson of the agency operations, carrier relations and Industry Affairs Committee and treasurer of the Agency Advocacy Coalition, as well as a member of PIANY’s executive/budget & finance and government affairs committees and the Long Island Advisory Committee.

The association also elected new officers to serve in 2025-26: President-elect Michael Loguercio Jr., of Ridge, N.Y., producer for BELFOR Property Restoration; First Vice President Jorge Hernandez of Merrick, N.Y., owner of North Franklin Brokerage Inc.; Vice President Eric Cohen of Fairlawn, N.J., CEO/managing director of Benefit Quest Inc./Eric Cohen Insurance; Treasurer Ed Chadwick of Buffalo, N.Y., who works for Jencap Specialty Insurance Services; Secretary Justin Fries of Roslyn, N.Y., owner of Garber, Atlas, Fries & Associates in Oceanside, N.Y. Richard Andrews is the immediate past president. Andrews is the owner/principal of Andrews Agency in Ithaca.

Midwest

Zach Posey joined World Insurance Associates as the leader of market relationships. Posey, who is based in Chicago, spent the past 15 years at Aon plc, where he most recently served as managing director of Inpoint, the firm’s management consulting and advisory arm. Before that, he spent 10 years in Aon’s National Casualty practice.

Alliant Human Capital, a division of Alliant Insurance Services, appointed Brian Muller as vice president. Muller has over 15 years of experience in corporate and consulting HR. Based in Columbus, Ohio, he joined Alliant in 2025. He began his career in the retail industry and later held consulting roles with several of the nation’s largest insurance brokerage and consulting firms.

South Central

Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, hired Alex Gramling as senior vice president within its employee benefits group. Based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Gramling serves a national client base. Before joining Alliant, Gramling was senior director, total rewards at Tyson Foods. He previously served as first vice president and lead consultant at Alliant.

Benefits consultant Terry Cox also joined Alliant as senior vice president within its employee benefits group. Based in Austin, Texas, Cox serves a national client base. Cox has over three decades of experience in the health and benefits industry. Before joining Alliant, Cox served as a senior principal and sales consultant with Mercer.

IMA Financial Group, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, made two leadership appointments in its Houston, Texas, office. IMA named Joey Dryden as Houston market president. Dryden continues his production responsibilities while partnering with both the property and casualty and employee benefits teams.

IMA also hired its first local employee benefits leader. Will Ogilvie has over 16 years of experience consulting with private and public sector employers, school districts, municipalities, and non-profit organizations. Before joining IMA, Ogilvie served as senior vice president, life and health at Stephens Insurance LLC.

Southeast

ICW Group Insurance Companies, headquartered in San Diego, California, named Tracey Estes as chief underwriting officer of ICW Specialty, a newly formed business unit that includes VerTerra Insurance, ICW Group’s excess and surplus lines carrier. Estes and her team will be based out of Atlanta, Georgia.

Estes has over 20 years of insurance industry experience, most recently serving as head of casualty at MSIG USA. Before that, she was an executive vice president at Arch Insurance and held several leadership roles at AIG.

The CRC Group, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, named Brennan Paris chief revenue officer of CRC Specialty. Paris will also remain president of CRC Select, CRC Specialty’s binding operations, and oversee revenue growth for CRC Specialty’s brokerage, Select, and Insurisk divisions. Paris joined CRC Specialty in 2019. He previously served as the director of business development for Markel.

USG Insurance Services added Shannon Smith as associate producer/broker in its Georgia office. Smith, based in Senoia, Georgia, has seven years of experience in casualty risk placement in the excess and surplus market and is a licensed property and casualty agent in Georgia. Smith previously worked at Amwins, an insurance brokerage.

Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, hired Nick Martin as senior vice president within Alliant Specialty to lead the company’s national alternative risk transfer platform. Martin, based in Atlanta, previously spent over a decade at Lockton Companies, most recently serving as vice president and alternative risk solutions consultant.

West

IMA Financial Group, Inc. named Greg Boothroyd chief people officer. Boothroyd has over 15 years of human resources experience across multiple industries and leadership positions. He most recently served as vice president of HR business solutions and chief of staff to the CEO at Vail Resorts. IMA is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

bolt expanded Curtis Scott‘s role as head of strategy and industry verticals. Scott will lead bolt’s enterprise vertical strategy and North America business planning. Scott has over 15 years of global experience, most recently serving as executive vice president, future mobility and digital economy at Aon. Scott also held roles at Lyft as vice president, GM core services and Lyft Business, and Uber as global head of insurance. bolt is headquartered in San Francisco, California.