Moves & Views

Michael McLeod has been promoted to branch manager of the company’s Toronto West office. McLeod will be responsible for the daily operations of the branch office, maintaining relationships and leading a team of more than 40 professionals and administrative staff. Jennifer Tims has been named branch manager of operations for Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc. on Vancouver Island. Tims has been with Crawford for more than 10 years, previously working with the company’s Edmonton claims operation.

 Dean Grigoruk has been appointed CNA Canada’s assistant vice president and branch manager for Montreal.  Grigoruk joins CNA from AXA Assurances, where he was responsible for leading a team of commercial lines underwriters for AXA’s larger mid-market division. He has close to 20 years of experience in the industry. Previous roles include  driving business growth, creating strong broker relationships and managing day to day business operations.  

LAWPRO, the legal malpractice insurer for Ontario lawyers, has made a number of appointments in its two claims departments. In its specialty claims area, effective Sept. 1, 2011, Simon Bernstein will become vice president of specialty claims. This area is responsible for handling TitlePLUS and excess insurance claims, as well as claims involving coverage issues. Prior to joining LAWPRO, Bernstein was assistant vice president of financial and professional services claims (Canada) at St. Paul Travelers Insurance Company. Bernstein succeeds Jerzy Adamowicz, who will be retiring at the end of August. Mitchell Goldberg has been appointed to the position of unit director and counsel in the specialty claims department. Victoria Margolin and Joseph Juda are appointed to the positions of claims counsel. Both have recently completed their articles with LAWPRO. In the primary professional liability claims department, which manages most of LAWPRO’s portfolio of errors and omissions claims, Jennifer Ip and Cynthia Martin are each taking on more senior assignments, heading the two PPL litigation units. Dale Herceg will assume the role of senior claims counsel in the PPL new claims group.

PPG Canada Inc. has appointed Rafael Hinojos as director of automotive refinish. Hinojos will be responsible for the continued growth of the Canadian PPG automotive refinish business unit. He has been with PPG since 1988, holding various positions throughout 13 years. They include territory manager, national account manager, business development manager and most recently American manager of national accounts.

FirstOnSite has expanded its Ontario management team with three new appointments. Steve Gregg is now district manager of the GTA. In this role, he will oversee the operations and service delivery of several FirstOnSite locations across Southern Ontario. Jim Mandeville is now branch manager of Toronto East. Mandeville will draw on his eight years of experience in the construction and restoration industry to lead this location. Len Perdic has accepted the title of project manager in Hamilton. Perdic has established trusted relationships with the insurance industry in Hamilton and the surrounding area and will continue to respect those relationships and foster new ones in his new role, the company says in a release.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has approved the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) as an accredited standards development organization. This status enables RIMS to take a lead role in shaping and developing risk management standards, a RIMS release says. RIMS plans to begin standards development early in 2012. “Developing and distributing standards is vital to ensuring consistently high levels of practice in organizations worldwide, and has been top of mind for RIMS since we formed our standards and practice committee in 2009,” said Lort Seidenberg, RIMS board member and vice president of enterprise risk management. “This approval, in conjunction with the efforts of our membership, will undoubtedly serve to foster a culture of risk management across sectors.”

RSA Travel Insurance Inc./Assurance Voyage RSA inc. (RSA Travel), part of RSA Canada, has completed its acquisition of the business assets and insurance expertise of travel distributor etfs and the etfs trademark. Adrian Hall, currently head of RSA’s personal specialty insurance business, has been named managing director of RSA Travel, which includes the etfs brand. Together RSA and etfs write almost $100 million in premium, service more than 1,000 distributors, and serve more than 1 million customers. The deal does not include Global Excel Management Inc. (GEM), the former claims and assistance business of etfs. RSA will continue its long-term partnership with GEM, which will remain the claims and assistance provider for RSA’s travel business.

Jones DesLauriers Insurance Management Inc. (JDIMI), one of Canada’s largest independent brokerages, has finalized its succession plan with the announcement of a new executive team. Founding partners Robert (Bob) Jones and Rick DesLauriers have divested some of their ownership to allow perpetuation of the company as a privately held, independent firm. Jones has moved from president and CEO to chairman and vice president of sales. His new role will focus on the company’s growth plans, insurer relations, recruiting and mentorship of the sales teams. DesLauriers will maintain his role as senior account executive, concentrating on medium to large complex risks. Rounding out the new team are Danny Sgro, president. Sgro has been with JDIMI for 10 years. For six years, he has been a partner and a member of the executive team. Aaron Nantais, CEO, has been a senior account executive and partner at JDIMI for 10 years and a member of the executive team for six. Glenn Murray, senior vice president, has also been a member of the executive team for six years. He will continue to head the transportation team.JDIMI has five offices in Canada. They are located in Toronto (head office), Cambridge, Belleville, Collingwood and Ottawa.

Forensics Investigations Canada (FIC) has acquired Saskatchewan-based Stealth Investigations for an undisclosed amount. Stealth’s three offices and 15 workers will continue to operate under the FIC brand. Stealth principal Stephen Clark will head up FIC’s Saskatchewan’s operations. “By joining FIC’s cutting-edge technology and Stealth’s reputation as the ‘provider of choice’ in the province, the organization will provide enhanced service… throughout the Canadian communities they serve,” an FIC release says.