Moves and Views

1 David Richards [1] has been appointed chief executive officer of JLT Canada, part of the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, risk specialists and employee benefit consultants. Having more than 20 years of experience in the insurance and risk management industry, Richards joined JLT Canada in 2013 as executive vice president and national specialty leader for natural resources. He has held various senior management positions within the insurance broking sector, including as executive vice president for Aon Canada. “His client advocacy, management experience and deep knowledge of the Canadian insurance industry is ideally suited to leading JLT Canada on its next phase of growth, supported by the strong senior management team that has been assembled over the last two years and a continued appetite from the JLT Group to invest in building out its Canadian operations,” says JLT Canada chairman John Lloyd. Richards succeeds Steve Thomas who, after completing JLT Canada restructuring over the last two years, has decided to return to Australia.

2 Toomas (Tom) Reikman and Max Weis [2] have joined Economical Insurance. Reikman has been named senior vice president and chief operating officer, effective January 20. He has held various executive roles at Aviva Canada, including senior vice president for the Ontario region, senior vice president of Pilot Insurance Company and Scottish and York Insurance Company, and senior vice president of national marketing. He also previously worked at Economical Insurance. Reikman will report directly to Karen Gavan, president and CEO of Economical Insurance. Weis, who previously held various roles at RBC Capital Markets, is the new vice president of corporate development as of January 21. Weis will be integral to “continued focus on its demutualization and public company readiness activities,” says chief financial officer Phil Mather.

3 Dan Kleiman [3] took on duties as vice president and regional leader, Canada Commercial for Zurich North America at the beginning of 2014. In his new position, based in Toronto, Kleiman will oversee the almost 100 market-facing underwriters and underwriting managers who are part of the Commercial Markets regional field organization within Canada, reports Zurich Insurance Group. Kleiman began with Zurich in its Kansas City office in 2007 and most recently served as segment head of the commercial real estate practice within Zurich North America Commercial. Before joining Zurich, he held commercial lines roles with increasing levels of responsibility at Chubb and Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company in Kansas City, Chicago and New York.

4 RSA Canada is looking to streamline its claims-handling process and condense cycle times through a new partnership with Audatex Canada, a global claims solution provider serving the automotive industry. The partnership replaces multiple software programs with Audatex Canada’s software suite, which will standardize workflow and procedures across all of RSA Canada’s companies. “This solution enables RSA Canada to leverage its size and scale to provide even better service to our customers and helping them get back to normal faster after a claim,” says Irene Bianchi, senior vice president of claims, corporate services and strategic sourcing for RSA Canada.

5 Scott McFie has been named executive vice president of business development for Granite Claims Solutions. McFie, who has been involved at the executive level within the insurance industry for more than 25 years, has held executive operational and business development positions at a national independent adjusting company. Denis Houle [5] will oversee the operational and sales activities of the company’s Atlantic Region as part of his new role as regional manager. Over the course of his career, Houle’s positions have included general adjuster, branch manager, vice president of operations and Lloyd’s Division leader.

6 Macdonald Chisholm Trask Insurance (MCT) announced in early January that it will join property and casualty brokerage BrokerLink. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, notes a statement from BrokerLink. BrokerLink companies, subsidiaries of Intact Financial Corp., include 84 offices serving clients in Atlantic Canada, Alberta and Ontario. Dating back more than 60 years, MCT has more than 110 insurance professionals in 18 offices. Michael Brien, who has led MCT over the last 12 years, joins BrokerLink as head of its Atlantic operations.

7 Carolyn Snow [7] will lead RIMS as president for the 2014 term, which took effect January 1. Snow, who has been on the RIMS Board of Directors for seven years, is currently director of risk management for Humana Inc. She previously served as RIMS’s treasurer, secretary and director of external affairs. The RIMS board for 2014 also includes vice president Richard Roberts, Jr.; treasurer Julie Pemberton; corporate secretary Nowell Seaman, director of global risk management for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc.; Gloria Brosius; Steve Pottle, director of risk management services at York University; Jennifer Santiago; Janet Stein, director of risk management and insurance at the University of Calgary; Gordon Adams; Robert Cartwright, Jr.; Al Gorski; Leslie Lamb; John Phelps; Michael Phillipus; Frederick Savage; and Lori Seidenberg.

8 As of January 8, Toronto insurance broker Jones DesLauriers Insurance Management Inc. (JDIMI) had acquired Whitley Insurance and Financial Services. Whitley Insurance has offices in Belleville, Ontario and the nearby communities of Trenton, Deseronto and Stirling. “The acquisition is expected to build a solid presence for JDIMI in Eastern Ontario and position the firm to better service their clients, with strengthened commercial and personal insurance offerings in the region and a new financial services division,” notes a statement from JDIMI. President and CEO Shawn DeSantis will lead the teams from both companies. Loris Clarke [8] has been named successor to Paul Whitley, president of Whitley Insurance, who will remain during a transition period.

9 Ken Rayner [9] has joined Anderson McTague & Associates Ltd. as its director of business development, Central Region. “Ken brings a wealth of experience to our company, having held various senior management positions with insurers and other MGAs,” says Chuck McTague, president of Anderson McTague & Associates, a family-owned MGA based in New Brunswick. In January, Anderson McTague & Associates announced it was expanding, adding an office in Toronto to service the brokers of Ontario and Manitoba. Rayner’s appointment confirms the company’s “commitment to the Ontario/Manitoba marketplace, and to the building of a local support team to assist brokers with their surplus lines and difficult to place business,” McTague adds.

10 The Guarantee Company of North America has announced that Tara Wishart [10] became vice president of claims for the insurer’s Toronto branch on December 2, 2013. Having 21 years of experience in The Guarantee’s claims department, Wishart will be responsible for the operations of the Toronto Branch Claims. She first joined The Guarantee in 1995 as an adjuster and has held roles of increasing seniority with the company, including, most recently, claims manager for specialty lines. Wishart is a member of both the Surety Association of Canada and the Canadian Association of Women in Construction.