People

National

Carbon, headquartered in London, appointed Jeff Bright as underwriting director in its expansion into the U.S. market. Bright has over 30 years of experience in the Lloyd’s Property DUA market, where he’s developed and managed extensive U.S. property portfolios in senior roles at TMK and, most recently, served as co-founder and chief underwriting officer at Adeptive LLP.

AXA XL Reinsurance hired Dan McCrosson to the U.S. property treaty reinsurance team in Stamford, Connecticut, as a senior underwriter, U.S. Property Treaty. McCrosson’s career spans several years at large commercial (re)insurers, where he held various underwriting roles. He spent the last five years writing property treaty business for both national and regional companies at Swiss Re.

Howden, with a U.S. base in Miami, Florida, named Colleen Ryan as chief communications and marketing officer for its recently launched U.S. retail offering. Ryan has over 20 years of experience, including leading communications and marketing for Pivotal, Melinda French Gates’ venture-philanthropy firm; serving as vice president of global communications and brand for the Einstein-founded International Rescue Committee; and leading Dell Technologies’ North American healthcare, education, and technology communications.

Howden also appointed Uri Dallal as executive vice president, financial lines, for its recently launched U.S. retail offering. Dallal will form part of the U.S. financial lines management team, joining Howden from Aon, where he has spent the last 16 years, most recently as a managing director and New York market leader. Prior to that, he was a U.S. Regional leader in Aon’s Financial Services Group.

Canopius Group, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, named John Tiesi as U.S. head of financial lines. Tiesi leads the financial lines portfolio across Canopius’ U.S. operations. Tiesi has over 25 years of experience in financial and professional liability underwriting. He joins Canopius from Marsh, where he spent nearly 16 years in senior leadership roles, most recently serving as QSG FINPRO national practice leader. Before that, he held positions including managing director and senior vice president within Marsh’s FINPRO practice.

Canopius Group also appointed Lisa Leftwich as U.S. regional head of strategy and transformation. Leftwich has over 20 years of experience, joining Canopius from Zurich North America, where she most recently served as head of sustainability services at Zurich Resilience Solutions. Previous roles include director of value proposition development, chief of staff for North America commercial insurance, and director of communications services.

Commercial Property insurer FM, headquartered in Johnston, Rhode Island, appointed Alison Erbig to executive vice president, chief financial officer (CFO). Erbig will also lead FM’s risk management and enterprise resilience functions. Erbig joins FM from Liberty Mutual Insurance, where she most recently served as CFO for Global Risk Solutions. Additional roles at Liberty included comptroller and director of investor relations.

She succeeds Kevin Ingram, who will retire from FM on Dec. 31.

Dominick Tassone Jr. was promoted to CEO of AM Specialty Insurance Company (ASIC U.S.), effective Jan. 1, 2026. Since joining AM Specialty in 2023 as chief underwriting officer, Tassone played a role in advancing the underwriting platform.

Shevawn Barder will continue in her role as group chief executive officer of AM Specialty and will be based in New York, overseeing the group’s broader strategic direction and international operations.

East

NFP, headquartered in New York City, appointed David Roberts as senior vice president, surety, in its Northeast region. With over three decades of experience managing commercial risk, Roberts, based in New Jersey, spent the last 20 years leading Liberty Mutual’s senior surety underwriting manager in New York City.

Falvey, headquartered in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, named Marc S. Blubaugh as lead national coordinating counsel. Blubaugh serves as co-chair of the transportation and logistics practice group and vice chair of the litigation practice group at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP, and has expertise in freight broker liability and the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA). Blubaugh is also outside general counsel to the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) and former president of the Transportation Law Association.

Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc., headquartered in East Providence, Rhode Island, hired Dennis Leamy as a commercial risk advisor. Leamy joins the firm with nearly 20 years of experience in property, casualty, and life insurance. Before joining Starkweather and Shepley, he was senior innovation manager at Amica Insurance. His experience includes underwriting, sales management, business development, marketing, operations, strategy, and corporate innovation.

Midwest

Acrisure, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, appointed Aaron Radelet as chief corporate affairs officer. In this newly created role, he will oversee globally the company’s corporate brand and reputation strategy and serve on Acrisure’s leadership team. Previously, Radelet served as chief communications officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance and chief communications officer at Hilton. Earlier, Radelet held roles at Sprint Nextel, AOL Time Warner, and MicroStrategy. He began his career at Shandwick International with clients such as The White House, GM, and Ford.

Encova Insurance, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, named Zach Webber as vice president, corporate actuarial, and Boppana Rao as vice president, enterprise digitization, AI, and data.

Webber has nearly two decades of actuarial experience across both commercial and personal lines, including roles at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and Nationwide Insurance. He leads Encova’s corporate actuarial team.

Rao previously held leadership roles at Abercrombie & Fitch and Safelite. He has experience leading digital modernization initiatives across the insurance and retail sectors, with a focus on cloud-native architecture, AI/ML adoption, and data governance.

Southeast

Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, hired Tim Simokonis as senior vice president within its employee benefits group in the Southeast. The Florida-based consultant will serve a national client base, focusing on self-funded health plans, data transparency, and fiduciary optimization strategies.

Simokonis has over 18 years of experience focused on self-funded health plans. Before joining Alliant, Simokonis was vice president with Lockton Companies.

Jason Ellison joined Alliant Insurance Services as senior vice president within its employee benefits group. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Ellison will serve a national client base. A 27-year industry veteran, Ellison most recently served as benefits leader, national healthcare practice, at Risk Strategies Company. He previously served as area senior vice president, health and welfare consulting at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

West

Mutual of Enumclaw (MOE), headquartered in Enumclaw, Washington, named Daniel Guthrie as vice president of product operations and chief operating officer and Hem Chari as chief information officer (CIO).

Guthrie has over 25 years of leadership experience in the insurance industry, including executive roles at Kemper, Nationwide, and Allstate. He has led large teams across product management, underwriting and distribution, and operational transformation.

Chari previously served as global CIO at GE Power, vice president and chief information officer at Videojet Technologies, and chief digital and information officer at Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope.

King & Neel, headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, named Brian Itami as market president, Hawaii, and hired Aukai King as vice president and commercial account executive.

Itami has over 20 years of commercial insurance experience. He previously served at IMA as property and casualty director, leading Portland, Oregon, and Hawaii operations.

King returns to King & Neel with more than a decade of experience in insurance, commercial banking, and project management, continuing the legacy of his grandfather, who co-founded King & Neel nearly 60 years ago.

King previously served as vice president in the commercial banking group at Bank of Hawaii and co-founded a real estate and professional services firm in Oregon.

Khynna Ausink joined Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, California, as vice president within its employee benefits group in the Pacific Northwest. Based in Seattle, Washington, Ausink serves a national client base. Before joining Alliant, Ausink was sales director with Juno.

Alliant Insurance Services also hired John Lapinski as senior vice president. Based in Michigan, Lapinski will serve a diverse client base throughout the Midwest with a focus on plan design, compliance, cost management, and employee engagement. Lapinski joins Alliant with over 35 years of experience. Before joining Alliant, Lapinski was a partner and Michigan offices leader for Mercer.