Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE announced that Ben Mitchell will take on the newly created role of regional head of multinational Americas. Mitchell has served as head of the global clients unit, Americas, since July 2014. Steve Giannone has been selected to run Risk Strategies' Chicago office and oversee operations in the firm's central United States region. He most recently served as senior vice president and managing director at USI Insurance Services' Insurance Brokerage and Consulting practice. Unqork, a cloud-based enterprise application platform, announced that Paul Walker has joined the board of directors as an independent director. Walker retired as a partner from Goldman Sachs in 2015, where he most recently served as co-head of the technology divisions and held roles in risk management and technology. Michael Tarling has been appointed senior advisor in the aviation practice of Marsh JLT Specialty. Most recently, he was assistant treasurer, risk management and insurance, at The Boeing Company. Beecher Carlson Insurance Services LLC appointed Bill Daly chief operating officer. Prior to his appointment, Daly served as chief financial officer of Brown & Brown Inc.'s retail division. Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronic, a statewide elected official and a member of Florida's Cabinet who oversees the Department of Financial Services, appointed Tasha Carter as the state's insurance consumer advocate. Carter joined the Department of Financial Services in 2003 and recently served as the director of the Divison of Consumer Services for more than eight years. Cobbs Allen announced the continued expansion of its insurance brokerage team with the addition of David Payne as the chief revenue officer for a new entity in the company's portfolio. He most recently served as chief revenue officer at JLT US. Katrina Wu has been hired by SterlingRisk Insurance as assistant production underwriter. Wu comes to SterlingRisk from HUB International Northeast Ltd., where she served as an assistant account executive. Combined Insurance, a Chubb company, made two new senior leadership appointments:

• Eileen Castolene - senior vice president, head of operations and technology
• Frank Rockett - senior vice president, human resources

Natasha Romagnoli has joined Blank Rome LLP as a partner in the insurance recovery group in the New York office. She joins the firm from McKool Smith, where she was a principal. Protecht has appointed Beau Jeppesen chief product officer. He previously served as chief operating officer. Brian Weringer, formerly of Transport Claim Associates, has joined the transportation division of Tenco Services Inc. as a heavy equipment specialist and trucking liability adjuster. He has more than 14 years of adjusting experience, eight years of truck repair experience and has been a member of the National Truck and Heavy Equipment Claims Council for the past eight years. Markel Corporation announced that John Lecci has been named a senior director of professional liability. Lecci was most recently employed by Axis, where he was responsible for underwriting management liability and employment practice liability for law firms and other professional organizations. Paul G. Smith has joined H.W. Kaufman Group as vice president, carrier relations. He spent the last decade at Willis Towers Watson as executive vice president for carrier relations. Fidelis Insurance has promoted Simon Crone to chief underwriting officer of Fidelis Insurance Ireland DAC. Crone joined Fidelis as a senior underwriter in 2019 from AmTrust, where he was the chief underwriting officer for the mortgage & credit division. Stephen Manahan has joined the specialty property program team of Blue River Underwriters, part of Breckenridge Insurance Group, as vice president, underwriting. For the past four years, he was senior vice president, property and inland marine for Kinsale Insurance Company. HUB International Limited acquired the property & casualty books of business from, and hired, insurance agents Matthew Lennon, Craig Love, Frank and Michael Namath. Each of the agents were previously part of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company's exclusive distribution model and are now joining HUB as they shift to becoming independent agents. Vahan Paretchan has been appointed vice president and East region leader for Everest Insurance's risk management casualty division. Vahan joined Everest in 2017 in its commercial casualty unit. Kenneth Martino has been promoted to president of MedRisk. He joined the company last year as executive vice president of business development. The Arbella Insurance Group announced the following promotions:

• Allen Chaves - assistant vice president of personal lines product
• Dan Clough - assistant vice president of home office claim

Related: People on the move in the P&C insurance industry: Aug. 2, 2019