People on the Move: Brokers

New Broker at Swett

ERIN MOLLOY has been promoted to broker in Swett & Crawford's Irvine, Calif. office.She will specialize in handling all property and inland marine exposures.For the past four years, Molloy has worked in Swett's Los Angeles office as an associate broker. Before joining Swett, Molloy worked at Partners General Insurance Agency as an underwriting assistant.

Related Coverage Target Markets Survey Shines Light on Programs Coverage (11/02/11) Lighter Headwinds Buffet Brokers in Third Quarter (11/03/11) Honoring Worker Safety and Injury Prevention (11/01/11) 12 Executives to Watch in 2012 (12/01/11) Consumed With Risk (12/01/11) "Erin has does a great job in gaining the knowledge and experience to have a very successful broking career with Swett & Crawford," said sales leader Curt Biersch.

New Philly Office for Lockton

KEVIN JUNOD has been named executive vice president of Lockton and will lead the company's new office in Philadelphia. He is a 24-year veteran of the insurance brokerage industry and most recently served as managing director for Aon Risk Solutions. JOHN D. UPRIGHT has been named senior vice president in the healthcare practice at Lockton. He has more than 20 years in the industry and previously held positions with Aon, PricewaterhouseCoopers and ARAMARK. JOHN R. COLOSIMO JR. has also joined Lockton. He will serve as senior vice president in the healthcare practice after previously holding positions with Aon, Willis. He also worked as the assistant director of risk management at Temple University.

"We are pleased to attract this talented group of professionals to serve our clients," said Michael Calabrese, chairman of Lockton's Northeast operations."Healthcare organizations face a remarkable set of risk management challenges. Our clients will benefit from the experience and in-depth knowledge that our new colleagues bring to the table."

The company's Memphis office added BEN SEWARD, who will take the role of senior vice president-account executive, responsible for property casualty insurance program development, negotiation, placement and service for corporate clients.He was previously the senior vice president and senior client advisor at Marsh for eight years. Previously, he provided risk management leadership for 26 years at Federal ExpressCorp., serving as managing director of risk management from 1994 to2003.

TRISTAR Taps Marano

STEVE MARANO has been named director of sales and client services at TRISTAR Risk Management. Marano has a strong background in private sector risk management, with a combined 13 years of experience helping to lead insurance companies such as Liberty Mutual and Travelers Insurance toward new business opportunities. He's managed claims services teams and provided effective issue resolution and claims handling for large corporate customers.

"We look forward to Steve's contributions to the ongoing growth of TRISTAR in the private sector," said Joe McLaughlin, senior vice president of sales and marketing. "His focus on customer service and abilities in new business development will help us expand our risk management services to the private sector and build strong broker relationships."

September 13, 2011

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People on the Move: Insurance

Krenboeck in at AXIS

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited announced that BRUNO KRENBOECK has joined AXIS Re as Marketing Director for Latin America. He most recently served as a Director at Swiss Re and has over 17 years experience in the international insurance industry with specific expertise in marketing and underwriting businesses in Latin America.

Related Coverage Target Markets Survey Shines Light on Programs Coverage (11/02/11) Lighter Headwinds Buffet Brokers in Third Quarter (11/03/11) Honoring Worker Safety and Injury Prevention (11/01/11) 12 Executives to Watch in 2012 (12/01/11) Consumed With Risk (12/01/11) In his new role at AXIS, Bruno will be based in the Company's Zurich office, which now replaces Bermuda as the center of Latin American operations for AXIS Re. AXIS Re's Caribbean operations will continue to be run from Bermuda.

"The appointment of Bruno Krenboeck demonstrates our commitment to the Latin American market. Through his industry stature and exceptional track record Bruno is well-suited to successfully lead our marketing activities in this important region. We are extremely pleased to have him in our organization," said Karl Mayr, Chairman of AXIS Re.

Ironshore Sure About Kostro

SUSAN KOSTRO has been appointed senior vice president of specialty casualty at Ironshore Inc.She will assume responsibility for building the Public Entities business in response to demand for complex risk protection from diverse public and government organizations and other non-profit institutions.

Ms. Kostro, who joined Ironshore in 2009, launched the Public Entities product line. Moving forward she will focus on expanding the business beyond the public sector to include religious institutions, higher education organizations and other non-for-profit entities. Based in Ironshore's Boston office, she has held various casualty underwriting and management positions with leading commercial insurance companies gaining proven expertise in Public Entity and Energy Product Lines.

Young in at Endurance

Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. announced that STEPHEN YOUNG has been appointed to lead Endurance's Global Catastrophe Reinsurance business. CHRISTOPHER SCHAPER, the current leader of this business, will be leaving Endurance for a senior executive position elsewhere in the insurance and reinsurance industry.

Mr. Young joined Endurance's Bermuda based reinsurance team in 2002 as an underwriter. In 2005 he assumed responsibility for Endurance's U.S. catastrophe reinsurance business and in 2010 his role was further expanded to include all property catastrophe underwriting in the Americas. In 2011, Mr. Young took on additional operational responsibilities for the property catastrophe reinsurance business.

Prior to joining Endurance, he was employed as an underwriter by Scandinavian Reinsurance in Bermuda. Mr. Young is a native Bermudian and attended schools in both Bermuda and the U.S. He graduated from Babson College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance.

"We are very pleased to have Stephen take on this new role within our organization. Stephen has been with Endurance for nine years and during that time he has demonstrated the technical skills and leadership qualities which will serve him well as he takes on this additional responsibility," said David Cash, chief executive officer of Endurance. "We are very fortunate to have an individual of Stephen's caliber on our team and I am confident that he will be successful in leading our global property catastrophe and specialty casualty reinsurance businesses."

Homesite Chooses McElwee

ANDREW A. McELWEE JR. has been appointed executive vice president and chief underwriting officer at Homesite Insurance Company. In this position he will be part of the executive management team at Homesite, and will be responsible for the underwriting profit of Homesite's personal lines portfolio.

Most recently, McElwee was the chief operating officer of Chubb Personal Insurance. Under Andy's leadership, CPI grew significantly, to about $4 billion, and consistently generated an underwriting profit. During his 25 years with Chubb, he also managed international field operations, and mergers and acquisitions.

"Andy's leadership and underwriting expertise will provide Homesite with increased capabilities as we continue to grow our business and our partnerships," said Doug Batting, Homesite's President and Chief Operating Officer. "I am confident that Andy's depth and breadth of personal lines and industry knowledge will provide Homesite with new capabilities that support our strategic business objectives going forward."

September 20, 2011

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Untreatable Tuberculosis Baffles Doctors

By GREGORY DL MORRIS, an independent business journalist with more than 20 years' experience covering finance, industry and commerce worldwide.

A dozen cases in India hardly constitute an apocalyptic pandemic out of some science fiction novel, but reports of totally drug-resistant tuberculosis (TDR-TB) has certainly raised the eyebrows of civic leaders and health underwriters around the world.

Related Coverage Cancer Fallout from Japan Nuclear Disaster May be Hard to Detect (The Globe and Mail) (11/21/11) Louisiana, Alabama Can Seek Punitive Oil Spill Damages (New Orleans CityBusiness) (11/21/11) Experts: 30 Years to Close Japan Nuclear Plant (Associated Press) (10/31/11) Deadly Storms Tear Through South (New York Times) (11/21/11) Ex-Security Chief at Mine Convicted of Impeding Investigation into Blast that Killed 29 (Washington Post) (10/31/11) Complicating the issue, there is no official international recognition that totally drug-resistant tuberculosis exists. The only defined conditions are mostly drug-drug resistant (TDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) forms of the virus. Nevertheless, insurance companies are having to make both interim and long-term risk management plans in case this disease turns out to be totally resistant to medications.

Health carriers stress that even if totally drug-resistant tuberculosis is recognized and cases are confirmed, the threat to the U.S. is vanishingly small. Any instances would most likely be through an infected person travelling to the U.S. before the condition was obvious.

Early in January, Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai reported as many as a dozen cases of totally drug-resistant tuberculosis, detailing that three patients had died and that the prognosis for the others was grim.

The immediate response from the Ministry of Health and the Directorate of Health Services was that neither the officials nor the doctors at the hospital were accredited to diagnose the disease, and that no such disease was recognized by the World Health Organization. The hospital was ordered to reclassify the cases as extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, and national officials were sent to investigate.

The outbreak in India is not the first instance of totally drug-resistant tuberculosis being reported. It was first discovered in Italy in 2003. There have also been cases in Iran and previous instances in India, according to news reports.

The resistant strains of "the white plague" result from incomplete or improper courses of treatment, according to the medical literature. Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria, and patients are supposed to take antibiotics for six months to nine months.

Impoverished areas that are the most likely incubators for the disease are likely to lack sufficient medical treatment. Patients may be taken to a clinic and given antibiotics that could initially make them better. But barring the full treatment schedule, the bugs that resisted the first doses are then free to reproduce.

The WHO said that tuberculosis is estimated to be present but dormant in as much as a third of the world's population. About 10 percent of people exposed to the disease eventually manifest active symptoms.

A fifth of all diagnosed cases worldwide occur in India. About 2 million people worldwide each year die of tuberculosis, and the WHO estimates that each victim infects, on average, as many as 15 others through contact with saliva or mucous.

In a statement, WHO reiterates that "the term 'totally drug-resistant' has not been clearly defined for tuberculosis." For now, these cases are defined as XDR-TB, WHO said. That assertion was essentially technical, saying that clinical tests indicating total resistance does not necessarily mean that the strain is totally resistant in any given patient.

On a positive note, the WHO added that, "new drugs are under development, and their effectiveness against these 'totally drug-resistant' strains has not yet been reported." That said, the organization stresses that the best approach is careful and thorough treatment of known cases.

January 24, 2012

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Child welfare worker wins benefits for injuries in workplace restroom

Case name: Davis v. Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, 19 ILWCLB 189 (Ill. W.C. Comm. 2011).

Ruling: The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission awarded benefits to a worker who sustained injuries when she fell in the restroom at work because her employment was a contributing factor in the accident.

Related Coverage Pre-existing anxiety, large caffeine consumption sink compensation (11/01/10) After foiled attempt to deny benefits, Wal-Mart entitled to subrogation credit (04/01/10) Florida court trims lawn care services from award (08/19/10) First employer on hook for later surgery costs (08/23/10) Worker's sleeping on job doesn't block vocational rehabilitation benefits (04/07/11) What it means: In Illinois, a worker's injuries arise out of her employment if her employment was a contributing factor in the accident.

Summary: A child welfare specialist and call floor worker's employment required her to take incoming phone calls concerning abused and neglected children. The call floor was understaffed. She took her designated break to use the restroom. While she was washing her hands in the restroom, she heard a coworker call out her name and thought she was needed for an urgent call. As she turned around to respond, she ran into the garbage can located in the restroom, which began to fall. She attempted to grab the garbage can to keep it from falling, but she fell to the floor and injured her spine and knee. The arbitrator found the claimant's accident arose out of and in the course of her employment and awarded benefits. The commission affirmed the arbitrator's decision.

The commission said it was undisputed that the accident occurred in the course of the claimant's employment, as she had gone to the restroom for her personal comfort during her designated break. The evidence showed that her fall was due to her response to the coworker's call for her. Thus, some phase of the worker's employment was a contributing factor in the accident.

Read more at the WorkersComp Forum homepage.

January 26, 2012

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Updated inspection program targets most hazardous federal work sites

An inspection program focusing on federal agencies has been continued and updated. OSHA announced its new directive for the Federal Agency Targeting Inspection Program, continuing the program at least through FY 2012.



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Property/casualty executives doubtful about comp profitability in 2012

More than half the nearly 250 surveyed said they do not expect to see an improvement in profitability in workers' comp this year, in contrast to other lines.

The respondents were participants at the 16th annual Property/Casualty Insurance Joint Industry Forum held in New York earlier this month. The survey, conducted by the Insurance Information Institute showed the executives were generally optimistic about the property/casualty industry, other than workers' comp.

Related Coverage Arizona: Judge rules against state in use of workers' comp funds (08/09/10) Colorado: State WC insurer increases its bid for separation (05/03/10) Massachusetts: Attorney general nixes insurers' request for increase (07/08/10) Connecticut: Legislative session ends without creation of state comp insurer (06/28/10) Florida: Division identifies 3 issues with medical data interchange (04/07/11) Three-quarters of the executives said they expect an improvement in profitability in 2012 in the property/casualty industry, and nearly as many believe the industry is on the road to recovery. But 55 percent said they do not expect the same for the workers' comp line.

Other survey results for the property/casualty industry included the following:

The worst of the financial crisis is behind us -- 75 percent. The industry is now in the early stages of a hard market -- 72 percent. The combined ratio will be lower compared with 2011 -- 78 percent. Consolidation among insurers/reinsurers will not increase -- 71 percent.

Most believe the U.S. economy is poised for growth of a little over a 2 percent annual rate, net of inflation.

Read more at the WorkersComp Forum homepage.

January 26, 2012

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Chiropractors successfully nullify IME law as unconstitutional

In Oklahoma, laws that exclude physicians other than medical doctors or doctors of osteopathy, including the definition of "qualified independent medical examiner" are unconstitutional.



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