Lockton Expands Financial Services Team in Kansas City

October 5, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Privately held insurance broker, Lockton, recently expanded its global financial services team with the hiring of Michael Born in Kansas City.

Born joins the company as vice president providing expertise in the areas of data security, privacy liability, media and specialty errors and omissions insurance. He is a member of Lockton’s Global Technology and Privacy Practice.

With 20 years of experience in the professional liability insurance industry, Born most recently held the position of senior vice president and manager of Underwriting at ThinkRisk Underwriting Agency LLC. Prior to his tenure at ThinkRisk, he held key positions with Axis Pro Insurance, Media Professional, Zurich American, and American Family Insurance. Born also spent five years in private legal practice focusing on insurance related matters.

Source: Lockton

 

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Insurance Noodle Expands Online Quoting Platform for Personal Lines Business

October 4, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Insurance Noodle, part of Willis North America, a unit of Willis Group Holdings plc has launched its immediate personal lines quoting hub.  Expanding on the functionality of the company’s commercial lines quoting hub, the offering allows insurance agents to login and complete an online application to get real-time quotes for home and auto risks in 38 states.  The quoting hub connects member agents to products from personal lines carriers.  Currently, five top insurance carriers offer quotes via the hub, with additional carriers coming on in the next few months.

Insurance Noodle is the distribution vehicle for the Willis Commercial Network North America, which provides products and services to small insurance agents and brokers nationwide.

The personal lines automated quoting platform has been pilot tested by existing members since July, with nearly 1,000 members adopting the platform within the first month.  It is now being offered for widespread distribution to small agencies across the country.  While available carriers vary by state, the platform delivers at least two options (on personal lines) for most locations.

The Insurance Noodle platform also provides agents with a database of their Insurance Noodle book of business.  All client records, quotes and policies from all carriers are stored in the member’s profile on the Insurance Noodle website. Agents can quote, bind, service, and renew business, all online. More enhancements to the network are in development.

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MPG Adds Brokerage Division, Expands Western Facilities

September 28, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Maritime Program Group has created a new brokerage division and expanded their western facilities with the addition of three professionals and an office in Gladstone, Ore.

Ron Hayes, director of brokerage, and Lina Jayme, vice president of brokerage, are leading the expansion of wholesale marine business for MPG, which includes placements for passenger vessels, fishing vessels, tugs and barges, builders risk, cargo, docks, shipyards, U.S. Longshore and Harborworkers (USL&H) and other commercial marine interest.

Bob Langenhan, senior marine underwriter, will be based in San Francisco, Calif. underwriting marine liabilities.

Hayes and Jayme founded two specialty marine agencies, Pacific Marine & Energy Resources and Pacific Underwriting Professionals in 2002. Both have insurance careers that span over 30 years in brokerage, underwriting and sales.

Langenhan was most recently a senior marine broker for Pacific Underwriting Professionals. He has held underwriting positions at Ace, CNA, Liberty and Pacific Marine Mutual over the past 30 years.

MPG is a program administrator based in the New England area providing a range of marine insurance products and underwriting services to its broker network throughout the U.S.

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EPIC Expands into Vintage Auto, Racing Industry

September 25, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

EPIC (Edgewood Partners Insurance Center), a retail property, casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage, has formed a new division, EPIC Motorsports. Operated by EPIC’s own collectors and racers, this division provides customers with insurance assistance for collector cars, racing, and associated industry vendors.

The initial concept for EPIC Motorsports came from the Historic Motor Sports Association’s (HMSA) President, Cris Vandagriff and David Alvarado, a commercial insurance broker with EPIC. A vintage racer and fellow auto enthusiast, Alvarado discussed the specific insurance needs of the motorsports industry with Vandagriff, and the shortage of necessary insurance products.

This conversation prompted Alvarado to develop HMSA Insurance Services and ultimately EPIC Motorsports. With this addition, EPIC, which specializes in insuring high net-worth customers, now offers coverage for the true stated value of a vintage vehicle along with other specific and manuscript coverages for collector and race cars.

EPIC Motorsports will provide auto collectors and vintage comprehensive insurance through the HMSA program. Offerings such as earthquake coverage, no mileage restrictions, “on track” protection, and higher policy limits are available.

In addition to collector and race car coverage, the HMSA program extends insurance to homes, regular use vehicles, art, jewelry, and personal umbrella/excess liability coverage.

Alvarado’s team includes Stan Sanchez and Beth Ward. Sanchez has spent six years focused on creating insurance products for luxury car collections as well as collecting and restoring cars himself.

Beth Ward brings twenty years of insurance experience and knowledge on the subject of all motorsports.

EPIC is an California-based retail property & casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage firm with eight offices across California (Los Angeles, Irvine, Fresno, Folsom, San Francisco, San Mateo, Petaluma and San Ramon).

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Drought Area Expands in Northern U.S., Eases in South

September 21, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleCommentsThe worst drought to hit the United States in a half century expanded in the upper Midwest and northern Plains states in the past week due to warmer- and drier-than-normal weather, but loosened its grip on some central and southern areas of the country.

Nearly 65 percent of the contiguous United States were under at least

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Chartis Private Client Group Expands, Enhances Wildfire Protection Unit

September 21, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Chartis has enhanced its Private Client Group’s Wildfire Protection Unit with geographic expansion and improved monitoring technologies. The unit now is available to clients in additional areas of Colorado.

The Wildfire Protection Unit is a complimentary loss mitigation service designed to help at-risk clients preempt avoidable fire damage to their properties. Response areas, defined at a zip code level, already include locations across Northern California, Southern California, Texas and other parts of Colorado.

Well before an active wildfire develops, Private Client Group clients in these locales can enroll to receive at-home consultations with Chartis’ team of wildfire mitigation specialists. With an emphasis on preparedness and education, the specialists look to identify wildfire hazards around the home and surrounding property, and offer wildfire mitigation recommendations. If warranted, the specialists also will apply a specially formulated fire retardant around the perimeter of the property. The retardant creates an added layer of protection that can last throughout the wildfire season.

In addition to one-on-one consultations, the Wildfire Protection Unit utilizes a disaster intelligence center powered by RedZone Software to track U.S. wildfire behavior, conditions, direction and changing fire perimeters. Mapping technology identifies insured homes in real time as wildfires approach and provides Chartis’ trucks with fire monitoring capabilities. In the event of an active wildfire within the service response areas, Chartis dispatches its Wildfire Protection Unit. Access permitting and in cooperation with local authorities, trucks equipped with fire retardant will attempt to visit vulnerable homes to bolster their defenses.

Although the Wildfire Protection Unit is not a private fire department, all mitigation specialists are firefighters with an average of five years of wildland fire experience. Wildfire Protection Unit crew members are Chartis employees, and all trucks and equipment are owned and managed by Chartis.

With the Wildfire Protection Unit service expansion in Colorado, Private Client Group clients residing in the following areas now can enroll to participate:

Arvada (80007)Boulder (80302, 80303, 80304)Cascade (80809)Castle Rock (80108, 80109)Colorado Springs (80840, 80902, 80903, 80904, 80905, 80906, 80907, 80919, 80921, 80926)Evergreen (80439)Golden (80401, 80403)Larkspur (80118)Littleton (80125, 80127)Longmont (80503)Manitou Springs (80829)Monument  (80132)Morrison (80465)Palmer Lake (80133)Sedalia (80135)Telluride (81435)Woodland Park (80863)Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: National NewsTopics: expansion, geographical expansion, High-Net Worth, homeowners insurance, Markets/Coverages, wildfiresHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk

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ACE USA Expands International Advantage Coverage

June 26, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

ACE USA has expanded its International Advantage product to offer enhanced coverages for the risks faced by professional services employees doing business overseas. Three foreign package offerings designed for accountants & lawyers, business consultants, and architects & engineers are designed to provide coverage for companies operating globally in the professional services arena.

According to

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Atlas Expands Commercial Auto Insurance Underwriting to Utah

June 7, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Atlas Financial Holdings, Inc. has started selling its core commercial automobile insurance products in Utah, becoming the 31st state where Atlas is actively underwriting.

Atlas’ insurance subsidiaries, American Country Insurance Co. and American Service Insurance Co., Inc., distribute their specialty insurance products focused on

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XL Expands Technology Underwriting Staff in New York, Atlanta, Chicago

June 26, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

XL Group plc has expanded its technology underwriting capabilities in New York, Atlanta and Chicago, adding six underwriters to its U.S. cyberliability underwriting group and appointing a new vice president to its Select Professional group.

In New York, XL Group is adding Marcin Weryk and Maura Weikman as senior underwriters and Ryan Gibney as underwriter. Dawn Simmons, senior underwriter in XL’s London office, is also joining XL’s New York-based tech/cyberliability team. Simmons joined XL Group in 2010 to launch XL’s cyberliability products in Europe and has worked in both XL’s London and Paris offices.

To provide brokers more local access to its technology and cyberliability expertise, XL is setting up additional regional underwriting operations, adding Joel Fehrman as underwriter in XL’s Atlanta office, Vernon W. Suckerman as senior underwriter in Chicago. Steve Anderson is the senior underwriter for this business in XL’s Dallas office.

XL Group’s Select Professional group also appointed John Coletti as vice president. Coletti joins XL from CNA. Prior to CNA, he was at Gulf Insurance in New York. Coletti will be based in XL’s New York office and report to Don Allard, chief underwriting officer of XL Group’s Select Professional business.

 

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Poms Expands Risk Services Division with Gamez

May 14, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Poms & Associates Insurance Brokers Inc. named Desi Gamez vice president of its risk services division in the firm’s Woodland Hills office.

Gamez previously held the position of vice president of commercial lines for USI of Southern California Insurance Services.

Poms services include commercial insurance, employee benefits, corporate wellness, personal lines, and risk management and risk control.  The firm has offices in California, Colorado, New Mexico and Washington.

 

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Great American Environmental Division Expands Capacity

April 13, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Great American Insurance Group’s Environmental Division is now offering $35 million per occurrence/ $70 million policy aggregate limits of liability for its complete pollution product line. These expanded limits of liability will be offered on both a primary and an excess of loss basis.

Great American’s environmental liability products and expanded capacity are available to retail and wholesale brokers throughout the U.S. and Canada. Great American’s Environmental Division offices are located in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., San Francisco, and New York, its newest location.

 

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DriveFactor Expands Usage-Based Auto Insurance Programs

April 13, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticle2 Comments

DriveFactor, previously known as Crimson Informatics, is offering new auto insurance programs that enable insurers to effectively rate driver performance based on safety and driving habits through mobile technology and informatics. As auto insurers expand new usage-based insurance (UBI) and telematics programs, policyholders could save up to 50 percent on their car insurance, according to DriveFactor.

DriveFactor designs its programs to provide insurers the ability to implement usage-based discounts for its policyholders, while also providing analytical support for more accurate rating and risk assessment. DriveFactor also offers consumers the ability to establish a DriveFactor Score, which reflects a driver’s safety and driving habits. Consumers with the highest DriveFactor Scores can attract large discounts on their auto insurance premiums.

In the United States, insurers such as Progressive, Allstate, and StateFarm are expanding their usage-based programs to accommodate the positive consumer response, and other insurers in the U.S. and abroad are rapidly adopting the technology. These programs gather information from an onboard diagnostic device and generate savings for policyholders who demonstrate safer behaviors, a departure from traditional insurance pricing, which generally relies on credit scores. DriveFactor is currently available in the U.S. and Europe.

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Progressive Expands Commercial Auto Coverage Limits

April 23, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Progressive Insurance has doubled the available liability limits of its commercial auto policies. It now offers options for $1.5 or $2 million. The expanded limits mean business owners won’t need to buy a separate umbrella policy to meet the liability requirements for large projects.

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