Moves and Views

1 George Cooke [1] announced in August that he would be retiring as president of The Dominion, formerly The Dominion of Canada General Insurance. Cooke began his distinguished career with the company 20 years ago as president and CEO. He will remain as CEO until December 31, 2012, will continue as executive vice president of E-L Financial until June 30, 2013, and will stay on as director.

“Mr. Cooke’s leadership and counsel will be invaluable to The Dominion and to E-L Financial during this period of transition and thereafter,” the company notes in a message to brokers. Cooke is succeeded by Brigid Murphy, who has assumed immediate responsibilities as president and director. As of Jan. 1, 2013, Murphy will begin as CEO of The Dominion and executive vice president of E-L Financial. She joined the company in 2003 and has held a number of increasingly senior management roles, most recently as chief operating officer (COO). The COO’s office will not be filled at this time.

2 Jon Schubert [2], CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, has announced to staff that he will be leaving his position, effective November 15. Calling the move a mutual decision reached with the ICBC’s board, Schubert noted in a message to employees:

“I am very proud and feel privileged to have served as CEO of ICBC. This is an outstanding organization with a solid executive and committed employees focused on serving the needs of our customers.” Schubert will stay on in a consulting capacity until June.

3 Craig Smith recently took on duties as vice president of sales and marketing for ISB Canada, a one-stop supplier of source documents to the insurance industry. With almost 30 years in the insurance business, Smith has held various senior positions at a principle insurer, as well as sales and marketing roles within the insurance vendor market. “ISB Canada is looking to expand in Ontario and across Canada and we are excited to have Craig on board to be an integral part of our growth strategy,” says ISB Canada CEO Gino Fiorucci.

4 XL Group’s reinsurance operations recently announced the appointment of Tim Fisher as senior vice president and Canadian branch manager. Fisher brings more than 25 years of experience in the reinsurance industry to his new duties to lead XL’s Toronto-based reinsurance underwriting team. Fisher has served as senior vice president and underwriter in XL’s Bermuda reinsurance operations, and was instrumental in helping to grow the reinsurance book of business, which includes U.S. and international property catastrophe and specialty risks. Prior to joining XL in 2000, he held progressively senior roles in claims and underwriting in the London market.

5 H. Ross Totten [5a], president and CEO of Totten Insurance Group Inc./Groupe Gestionnaire D’Assurances Totten Ltée. since its founding in October 2002, assumes the role of chairman and chief sales officer, effective September 1, 2012. Totten will focus on business development, both through organic growth internally with the development of new products and programs, and through external acquisitions, Hub International reports. Heather Masterson [5b] moves from Hub HKMB Ontario to become president and CEO of Totten Insurance Group, also effective September 1. Masterson comes to this role from her responsibilities for managing insurance company relationships, and maintaining presence in the Worldwide Broker Network. Her experience includes being a broker in the family brokerage, setting up and managing the commercial division of Newfoundland’s Colonial Fire and General Insurance Company, spending a number of years at AIG in various roles, and establishing and running the Canadian operations for AIG WorldSource.

6 Michael Taillon will take on responsibilities as Aon Risk Solutions Canada’s new national practice leader of energy. Having worked with both insurers and brokers, Taillon has gained international experience across a diverse range of sectors, including energy, mining, construction, manufacturing and technology. He will use his three decades of experience in risk management and insurance to lead business development and provide oversight to Aon’s energy practice, notes a company statement. Alison Miller has been named Aon Risk Solutions’ practice leader of national power and utilities in Canada. A 12-year veteran of the company, Miller has managed large and technically complex risks in the utility, mining and energy sectors. She will lead Aon’s team of experts to design and implement risk management strategies for power transmission and distribution companies, as well as drive the development of proprietary insurance programs and collaborate with the global power practice.

7 FirstOnSite Restoration has named Sean Hobson [7] as senior vice president of sales for the company. Hobson’s extensive background in insurance, construction and restoration industry sales nationally and internationally will assist him in his duties to lead FirstOnSite’s sales teams across the country to ensure consistent service at the national and branch levels. Hobson has prior experience as Granite Claims Solutions’ vice president of sales for Canada and the United Kingdom, and has held a number of other sales and marketing roles.

8 The CG&B Group Inc. has acquired F. Wallace Clancy & Son Limited, an Ontario insurance brokerage that has been in business for more than 100 years. Mike Clancy, the brokerage’s current president, will transition into retirement and his son Paul will assume the role. The Clancys and their staff will continue to operate the brokerage under the F. Wallace Clancy & Son name. “They have a very strong business with terrific assets and we look forward to working with Mike, Paul and the team, and giving them access to the skills and expertise within CG&B Group to grow and expand,” says Larry Later, president and CEO of CG&B Group. The acquisition is CG&B’s 15th in 13 years.

9 Beyond Insurance Brokers Inc. has opened a new office in Thunder Bay, Ontario, which operates under the name Beyond Insurance (Superior) Inc. The company’s insurance services – for personal home, auto and commercial, including risk management – will be available to the northern parts of Ontario under the management of Trish Krawec. Krawec has more than 20 years of experience in insurance, including as a director for the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) and as a current council member for the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario.

10 RSA Canada has chosen Brovada’s NexCenter to provide single-sign-on capability to its EZ-Docs self-service tool for brokers. Brokers who are registered for EZ-Docs can now access their online documents directly from within their broker management system (BMS). Brokers using RSA’s EZ-Docs tool will be able to have eligible documents automatically downloaded daily via the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations’ CSIOnet. “This has been a major priority for RSA’s eBusiness B2B team and we look forward to a continued partnership with brokers, vendors and the CSIO in enhancing broker efficiency,” says Steve Knoch, senior vice president of IT and eBusiness for RSA. “Direct electronic document download to a broker’s BMS provides increased efficiencies, improves the speed at which a broker copy of documents is available for a broker to review and satisfies our regulatory requirements,” says Rick Orr, president of IBAO.

11Intact Insurance and Keal Technology recently completed the development of an electronic document (E-doc) solution that will allow brokers to download policy information of their personal lines clients insured
by Intact Insurance directly to their Keal BMS, sigXP. The solution allows brokers to download customers’ policy declarations, payment information and many more documents directly from Intact systems into BMSs. Initial discussions with users show almost “80% intend to download all the documents made available by Intact Insurance,” says Pat Durepos, president of Keal Technology. The solution’s functionalities are based on the CSIO XML standard.