Moves & Views (November 01, 2008)

1 Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc. lost a long-time stalwart member and friend with the passing of John McHugh on Sept. 24, 2008. John, vice president of claims operations for Crawford, was known throughout his 30-year career in the industry as a gentleman, a devoted family man, a distinguished claims professional and a gifted leader. He worked with independent firms Gray, McHugh, Virley; Adjusters Canada Inc.; and Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc. He will be greatly missed by all those who had the benefit of his positive outlook, willingness to help and dedication to the claims profession, Crawford said in a statement.

2 Jean Marc Laurin has been appointed senior vice president of operations at Cunningham Lindsey Canada Claims Services Ltd. Based in Montreal, Laurin will assist with Quebec operations in addition to special projects elsewhere throughout the Canadian operation. He has 29 years of independent insurance adjusting experience.

3 David Brosnan has been appointed CEO of ACE Canada. Karen Barkley will now serve as chief operating officer of ACE Canada and president of ACE Canada’s property and casualty business, a release says. Brosnan has been with ACE since 2005; most recently he has served as president of ACE Casualty Risk. Prior to that, he held a senior leadership role with Chubb Insurance Company of Europe.

4 Chris Kiah [4], is the new CEO of Allstate Canada, succeeding Michael Donoghue, who has announced his retirement. Kiah joined Allstate Corporation in 1996; prior to becoming CEO, Kiah was the assistant field vice president in the southeast region for Allstate Corporation.

Donoghue has served at the helm of Allstate Canada for the last seven years and has spent a total of 38 years with Allstate Corporation. Donoghue will also retire from his post as IBC chair. IBC’s deputy chair, Rowan Saunders, president and CEO of RSA, will replace him as chair.

5 Steve Pottle [5a], York University’s insurance and risk analyst, has accepted the role of president for the Risk and Insurance Management Society’s Ontario chapter (ORIMS). Melissa Chrystian [5b], Sun Life Financial, will assume the role of vice-president. Erin Magilton-Morneau, ORIMS’ immediate past president, resigned because she is “moving on to another chapter in her career [that] excludes her from continuing her role as president under the chapter bylaws,” an ORIMS release says.

6CNA Canada has announced a series of appointments over the past six months. Denis Dei Cont has been promoted to chief underwriting officer; Ted Wood is now the chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance; Greg Knowles is vice president of distribution and marketing; Lynne vonWistinghausen is vice president of operations and IT; and Michael Walcott is assistant vice president of underwriting (Ontario).

7 W. R. Berkley Corporation has formed Berkley Underwriting Managers Canada, Ltd. Michael McLachlan, who has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry, has been named president of the operation. Its focus will be on specialty casualty commercial insurance products. Products include general liability, products liability and other commercial lines on behalf of the Canadian branch of Berkley Insurance Company. The company will be based in Toronto.

8 Keal Technology’s commercial management system (CMS), comXP, will be integrated with Aviva Canada’s Fastrax, a Web-based commercial insurance application. The partnership will enable brokers to upload small commercial package information, including client, risk and coverage details, from comXP to Fastrax, eliminating the need for dual entry, according to a release.

9 Affiliated FM has introduced a new green coverage endorsement to its ProVision all-risk property policy. The endorsement provides coverage for the additional costs of repairing, replacing or rebuilding damaged property — using environmentally responsible practices and green alternatives — to whatever level of green standards a policyholder chooses, the company notes in a release.

10 Jon Schubert has been appointed president and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of B. C. (ICBC). Prior to his new post at the ICBC, Schubert served as president and CEO of Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI). He worked at SGI for 23 years before venturing forward to run his own consulting firm. He returned to SGI in 2004 as president and CEO. Following Schubert’s departure from SGI, Earl Cameron has been appointed acting president and CEO. Cameron most recently served as the vice president of claims and salvage with SGI.

11 Giffin Koerth has launched its forensic accounting group, which will calculate damages, detect signs of fraud and unlock secrets in computers. Giffin Koerth says its group will work in a “cutting-edge” computer forensics lab, where it can restore deleted files, uncover altered accounting records and track down email trails. The department will be led by Edward Nagel [11]. The team includes John Young, computer forensics, Richard Stahl, damage quantification, and Kim Manchester, anti-money laundering. Also, Russell Brownlee has been appointed head of Giffin Koerth’s road factors practice. Brownlee has worked most recently as associate and senior transportation engineer with IBI Group.

12 Gore Mutual now provides both upload and download functionality for brokers between Policy Works and Gore Mutual’s GoBroker portal. The Policy Works’ data exchange program, launched last spring, offers integration and single sign-on upload capacity for users. The program has been expanded to include download capacity as well.

13 Graham Haigh [13], Gore Mutual Insurance Company, has assumed the role of president at the Insurance Institute of British Columbia’s 2008-09 governing council. Shaun Sinclair, Telus Communications, is first vice president od the academic division and Mike Dakin, ICBC, will serve as second vice president of the professional division. Wes M. Chowen, McLarens Canada, will assume the role of secretary.