People and Places

IIABA promotes McPhillips to senior director: The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) has promoted Jennifer McPhillips to senior director of federal government affairs, and will serve as one of the association's Democrat lobbyists on the bipartisan Capitol Hill team. McPhillips previously served as senior director of political affairs in charge of IIABA's grassroots program and assisting with the management of the political action committee, InsurPac.

PIMA elects 2011 leaders: The Professional Insurance Marketing Assoc. elected its 2011 leaders during its annual meeting. Denise S. Friday, vice president, AMA Insurance Agency Inc., was installed as PIMA's president. Other new PIMA officers include: Edwin Miltenberger as president elect; Samuel Fleet as treasurer; Daniel O'Brien as secretary and James Gallagher as immediate past president. Newly elected board directors are: Allen Bress, Mark Kelsey and Shannon Warner. The President's Distinguished Service Award was presented to Chris Petersen, Scot Baraw, Mike McCarthy and David Olsen.

Katcef joins Crump as casualty broker: Josh Katcef has joined Crump Insurance Services' Irvine wholesale operation as a casualty broker. Katcef comes to Crump from American E&S where he served as casualty broker for the past several years. He specializes in construction, products/manufacturing risks as well as pollution and excess.

Young joins Paxys as commercial broker:  James L. Young has joined Paxys Insurance Agency Inc. as a commercial broker-agent. Young has several years experience in surety bonds and commercial insurance. He also is the founder-owner and director of JLY Public Relations, Sycamore Press Div., which provides California Dept. of Insurance continuing education courses for licensed professionals.

Capitol announces new promotions: Capitol Insurance Cos. announced that Kevin A. Klestinski has been named vice president of property and casualty underwriting, Richard F. Boettner has been promoted to director of underwriting – brokerage and general agent binding and David W. Schirmer has accepted the position of director of audit and product development. Klestinski joined Capitol in 2006 as director of marketing operations. In this position, he provided leadership to the marketing staff to include the planning, organizing and directing of the day-to-day operations. Boettner joined Capitol in July 2002 as staff services director. In March of 2006, he became the director of P&C underwriting – brokerage. In this position, he has provided leadership to the brokerage underwriting staff to include the planning, organizing and directing of the day-to-day operations.  Schirmer joined Capitol in June 2003 as underwriting manager of Capitol Specialty Insurance Co., becoming director of underwriting – general agents in April 2005. He has accepted the position of director of audit and product Development, and will focus on P&C underwriting changes and product development.

Read on for other news.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Morrill Group acquires Goldman Ernest & Liner: Morrill Group, an independent insurance agency based in Norwood, Mass., has acquired Goldman Ernest & Liner Insurance Agency of Needham, Mass. Goldman, Ernest & Liner will operate as a subsidiary of Morrill Insurance. Stephen Liner will become vice president and head of commercial lines for the combined entities.

All Risk acquires Champion Special Risk Brokers: All Risk, Ltd. has acquired Champion Special Risk Brokers LLC, Coconut Creek, Fla. Champion Special Risk Brokers has provided specialty excess and surplus line products and unique solutions to the independent agency system since 2006. Steven H. Kass, president, Champion Special Risk, and his team will join the existing staff at All Risks' Ft. Lauderdale office.

New Policies

MSO expands House of Worship program: The Mutual Service Office Inc. (MSO) has updated their House of Worship Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  The MSO House of Worship program is a self-contained package, including property and liability coverages in one easy to use form. Highlights of the changes include: increases in supplemental coverage limits; interruption of computer services coverage; credit card/forgery/counterfeit money; employee dishonesty; loss of electronic data; satellite dishes; green upgrade supplemental coverage option; functional replacement cost options for buildings and contents and options for increased liability and fire legal liability limits.

RLI Corp. offers motorist/uninsured motorist coverage: RLI Corp. has received approval to offer excess uninsured motorist/underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) on its personal umbrella policy in most states. UM/UIM coverage protects insured drivers from injuries and property damage related to accidents caused by drivers who are uninsured or underinsured. Excess UM/UIM coverage will be available on new and renewal RLI personal umbrella policies at a limit of $1 million per accident. The RLI personal umbrella policy is a standalone policy that provides customers with a layer of liability protection over their current homeowners and auto insurance policies.

News

Maritime General Agency changes name: Maritime General Agency has formed a new business identity: Maritime Program Group, which combines three niche marine insurance underwriting facilities – Maritime General Agency, Marine MGA and Windward Marine Underwriters – into one powerful managing general agency. Under the new name of Maritime Program Group the agency offers brokers unified and integrated insurance products, expert underwriting, and dedicated services that cover the entire spectrum of marine-related risks.

Goss Reinsurance Brokers changes company name: Goss Reinsurance Brokers LLC, a privately owned reinsurance intermediary firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has changed the company name to Advocate Reinsurance Partners LLC. The name change was issued because the partners believe Advocate Reinsurance Partners better describes their mission. Advocate Reinsurance Partners remains a key holding of parent company U.S. Risk Insurance Group and will continue to actively work with the various divisions within U.S. Risk. In addition, Advocate Reinsurance Partners has moved its headquarters to Uptown Dallas.