People – West

Topa Insurance Group has named Judith Provencher senior vice president in claims in its Calabasas, Calif., office.

Provencher Oversees all claims operations within the Topa group.

She has more than 25 years of experience. She was previously vice president in claims at Topa Insurance Group, regional claims manager at The Doctors Insurance Co. and a senior reinsurance claims manager at Renaissance Re Insurance.

Topa is a property/casualty insurer offering business and personal insurance, as well as specialty program insurance.

San Francisco, Calif.-based CAL Insurance & Associates Inc. has named Stafford Jacobs III assistant vice president and property/casualty insurance advisor.

Jacobs has nearly 20 years of experience.

He previously was a broker, account manager and spent time on the carrier side of the industry.

He’s held positions with Sweet and Baker Insurance Brokers and Hub International.

CAL Insurance is an independent insurance agency.

RIC Insurance General Agency Inc. has named Garett Kaneko senior vice president of sales and marketing and Tom Clansen vice president of commercial lines.

Both will be based in California. Garett will work out of RIC’s headquarters in Santa Rosa. Clansen will be based at RIC’s Tustin office.

Garett has 12 years of underwriting, sales and sales management experience. He was most recently regional sales director for Travelers.

Clansen has more than 20 years of excess and surplus lines experience. He was vice president of the Western region for Chubb’s E&S lines operation prior to joining RIC. He has also worked for AIG, Bliss & Glennon and General Star.

RIC is a managing general agency and surplus lines broker.

Bart Schaffer will now be leading U.S. commercial programs at Argo Group. Schaffer is located in Denver, Colo.

He was previously head of binding operations within Argo Group’s Colony Specialty company.

Schaffer joined Colony Specialty as regional vice president of marketing. During his time at Colony, he also held positions including national vice president of marketing, and senior vice president of marketing and underwriting. Schaffer was with Grocers Insurance prior to joining Colony.

Argo Group, is a Bermuda-based underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products.

JLT Re has named John Brodsky a senior vice president in Seattle, Wash.

Brodsky will be part of the workers’ compensation unit, and will focus on the expansion and development of JLT Re’s casualty practice.

He was previously with Guy Carpenter in the workers’ comp specialty. He worked at Sedgwick Re before it became part of Guy Carpenter in 1999.

Jardine Lloyd Thompson is a provider of insurance, reinsurance and employee benefits services.

Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Heffernan Insurance Brokers has named James Taylor assistant vice president in Heffernan’s benefits advisory services department.

Taylor joined Heffernan in 2014 as an account executive after having worked at Liberty Mutual Insurance and ADP.

Heffernan has offices in San Francisco, Petaluma, Menlo Park, Los Angeles and Orange County, as well as offices in Portland, Ore., and St. Louis, Mo.

EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants has named Gerrad Newton a producer within its auto dealer specialty program team in Sacramento, Calif.

Newton will be focused on workers’ compensation and garage liability for auto and motorcycle dealers.

Newton has 16 years of experience on both the carrier and brokerage sides. Newton was an account executive with Zurich Financial prior to EPIC. Newton wsd previously with Gallagher Bassett Services, Intracorp and Corvel Corp.

EPIC is a retail property/casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and consulting firm.

The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation has named Alisa Breese director of marketing and communications.

Breese has more than 15 years of experience developing marketing and communications strategies within the insurance industry.

She previously worked at Laguna Pacific Consulting, ACE Group and INAMAR.

Since 1998, IICF supporters have provided nearly 200,000 volunteer hours, serving over 150 nonprofits nationwide, and involving over 200 industry companies and offices.