People Moves: AIPSO Appoints Willis President and CEO; Canopius Names HSBC’s Alioto as Group COO; Doubtless Adds to North American Leadership

The Automobile Insurance Plans Service Office (AIPSO) appointed Executive Vice President Les Willis as president and CEO. Willis succeeds President and CEO Charles Kwolek, who is retiring after a 32-year career with the organization.

Prior to joining AIPSO, Willis served as a member of AIPSO’s board of directors for 10 years (serving two terms as chair), and as vice president of operations for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. He has more than 32 years of insurance industry experience and led multiple teams at State Farm working in both the United States and Canada.

Willis joined State Farm in 1993 where he served in a variety of leadership positions across commercial and personal lines insurance. He spent a significant amount of time based at State Farm corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois, and worked out of the Illinois, Indiana, Texas and Canada regional offices. He led corporate and field operations, product line development and management across all property/casualty lines, corporate insurance, risk management and residual markets.

AIPSO is a national, non-profit organization that serves the insurance industry by managing and providing services for residual market auto insurance plans that serve high-risk drivers who cannot obtain coverage through standard providers. AIPSO also provides services to 20 industry-supported residual market mechanisms for lines of insurance other than automobile. AIPSO is headquartered in Johnston, Rhode Island.

Canopius Appoints HSBC’s Alioto as Group Chief Operating Officer

Canopius Group, a leading global specialty and P/C (re)insurer, appointed Stacey Alioto as group chief operating officer (COO).

Alioto will report to Neil Robertson, Canopius group chief executive officer, and will join the group leadership team. She will join Canopius in September.

Based in Chicago, Alioto joins Canopius from HSBC, where she most recently served as deputy group chief operating officer. Over 25 years at HSBC, Alioto has led operations spanning more than 60 markets and led teams of up to 10,000 employees.

Alioto will succeed Kate Roy, who is retiring after a five-year tenure at Canopius as group COO.

Doubtless Adds to North American Leadership Team

Doubtless, a global pet insurance and solutions organization based in Chicago, made several senior leadership appointments in North America.

May Pelz expands her responsibilities as president of Pets Best. Pelz joined Pets Best in March and has led business development, marketing and sales operations across the organization’s key partner and customer channels. As president, she now assumes responsibility for all Pets Best operations.

Raj Patel joined Doubtless in May as senior vice president, head of human resources for North America. Patel leads the region’s HR strategy, focused on strengthening culture, supporting team growth and aligning talent priorities with business objectives.

Steven Gilliam has been appointed general manager of Spot Pet Insurance and will join the executive leadership team. Having served previously as product and marketing lead since joining Spot in 2021, Gilliam played a role in building its technology foundation.

Topics Leadership