People on the move in the P&C insurance industry: Feb. 1, 2019

GuideOne Insurance has elected Todd C. Hart and Robert P. Hartwig to the company’s board of directors to serve three-year terms. Hart is the former CEO of Narragansett Bay Insurance Company. Hartwig is a clinical associate professor of finance at the Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina.

Michael van der Straaten will be appointed as acting CEO after current CEO Gunther Saacke informed the board of directors of Qatar Re of his intention to step down as CEO and executive director of the company at the next board meeting, scheduled for March. Straaten is currently the chief underwriting officer for long tail and specialty classes.

Robins Kaplan LLP has announced that Matthew Burke has joined the firm’s national insurance and catastrophic loss practice group as a partner in the Boston office. He joins the firm with over 25 years of experience; additionally, he serves as counsel to the Property Insurance Claims Group in the Lloyd’s market acting as coordinating counsel for complex and recurring first-party property claims.

Brian Grace has been named Nationwide‘s new chief communications officer. Grace joins Nationwide from Progressive Insurance where he served in a similar capacity.

Worldwide Facilities Marine, a division of Worldwide Facilities, has added Kelly Martinez to the Los Angeles team as a broker. Before this, Martinez served as senior vice president for Aspen U.S. marine hull & machinery and marine liabilities.

Kate Horn has been appointed a branch executive to provide a range of Liberty Mutual and Ironshore commercial and specialty insurance solutions to mid-size and large companies throughout Southern New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. Prior to joining Liberty Mutual, Horn was vice president at Keating Inc.

ChronWell, a technology-enabled care navigation platform for the workers’ compensation industry, has announced the following appointments:

• Matthew Schreiber - chief revenue officer
• Neviana Terzieva - vice president of sales
• Marina Simonian - vice president of product management

Nick Garrity has been appointed CEO of International General Insurance Holdings Limited‘s Labuan Branch. He joins the company from Swiss Re Corporate Solutions in Singapore where he was head of sales, Asia Pacific.

PCF Insurance Services (PCF) has announced that Dani Goldsmith has joined the company as its chief operating and chief financial officer; she will also serve as a director on PCF’s board of directors. Goldsmith is the former chief financial officer of HUB International.

Travis Brashear will lead Holmes Murphy‘s Texas employee benefits division as vice president/market leader for South and Central Texas. He joins Holmes Murphy from his most recent role as the chief growth officer for Imagine health. The company serves business and industry leaders across the nation in the areas of property & casualty insurance, employee benefits, captive insurance, risk management and loss control.

Lloyd‘s confirmed the appointment of former U.S. Senator John E. Sununu as a new member of its council for a three-year term, beginning Feb. 6, 2019. He now acts as a senior policy advisor for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and holds office as a non-executive director for the Boston Scientific Corporation and Afiniti Inc.

Paul Licata has been appointed an affiliate member on the American College of Health Care Administrators-Florida board of directors. He currently serves as national account manager for Interstate Restoration.

ANE, Agency Network Exchange LLC, has appointed Lisa Melroy director of accounting and operations. She joins ANE from Congregation Bethel where she was a controller.

Jared Huffman has joined All Risks Ltd. as brokerage underwriter. Huffman previously served as an account executive/commercial underwriter for Travelers where he focused on underwriting small commercial business.

ACORD, the global standards-setting body for the insurance industry, has announced its 2019 board of directors:

• Steven Beard - chief executive risk officer, Risk Transfer Group & RFIB
• Kirk Behrens - global chief operating officer, Aon Health Solutions
• Helen Crooks - chief data officer, Lloyd’s of London
• Kevin Kennedy - chief information officer, Prudential Financial
• Patrick Molineux - managing director LIMOSS, London Insurance Market Operations and Strategic Sourcing
• Dr. Ralf Schneider - executive vice president and head of global operations, Allianz
• Simon Squires - senior operations lead, U.K. & Ireland, international & premium collections, middle office XL Catlin, AXA XL
• James Tyo - chief data officer, Nationwide
• Rafal Walkiewicz - CEO, Willis Towers Watson Securities

Related: People on the move in the P&C insurance industry: Jan. 25, 2019