Moves and Views

1 Economical Insurance announced in May that two vice-presidents, Dianna Fioravanti and Scott Campbell, have left the company to “pursue other endeavours.” Fioravanti was vice president of sales, distribution and underwriting operations, while Campbell was vice president for Ontario. Robert Gow [1a] will fill the position vacated by Campbell, Jorge Arruda [1b], appointed chief transformation officer last fall, will become senior vice president of sales, distribution and underwriting operations, and Chris Weber [1c], formerly vice president of analytics, is now vice president for the Western Region.

2 The Insurance Bureau of Canada announced in May that Amanda Dean has been appointed as its regional vice president for Atlantic Canada. In her new role, Dean, who has been with IBC since 2006, will work on an “advocacy strategy” for the property and casualty industry. The goal of that strategy will be to achieve priorities such as “coordinating consumer outreach programs on injury prevention and working on adaptation to severe weather initiatives.”

3 Western Financial Group Inc. of High River, Alberta has reached an agreement to purchase Coast Capital Insurance Services Ltd. (CCIS) for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close in July. “This is the largest deal we’ve negotiated to date and will help us solidify our presence throughout the B.C. market,” Scott Tannas [3], president and CEO of Western Financial, says in a statement. A subsidiary of Coast Capital Savings Credit Union in Surrey, British Columbia, CCIS offers property, casualty, commercial, life and disability insurance products through 32 retail insurance offices across B.C. Under the new deal, its life and disability insurance business will remain with Coast Capital. CCIS branches will continue to operate under the CCIS name and branding for at least two years. Western Financial will continue to employ all of CCIS’s 242 staff members.

4 Allianz SE of Munich has named Kevin Leong [4] as the new chief agent for its global corporate and specialty business in Canada. As of August 1, Leong will take over the chief agent position from Thomas Paap, and will be based in Toronto. Leong, who began his career in Hamburg, Germany and relocated to Singapore seven years ago, is currently chief executive officer of Allianz global corporate and specialty’s Singapore branch. Paap will assume the position of global practice leader, heavy industries and manufacturing within Allianz’s property line of business. Allianz’s business in Canada includes aviation, engineering, energy, financial lines, liability, marine and property.

5 Granite Claims Solutions of Mississauga, Ontario recently announced the company has acquired HR Leiher Insurance Adjusters, a Collingwood, Ontario firm founded in 1991 by Harold Leiher, an independent adjuster since 1980. Beyond “increased coverage” in the Collingwood area, the acquisition “provides a substantial increase in Granite’s municipal claims skill set,” the company reports.

6 Intact Financial Corp. has two new members of its Board of Directors, while the remainder were re-elected by the company’s shareholders at Intact’s annual general meeting in May. The terms have ended for both Paul Cantor, a senior advisor for law firm Bennett Jones LLP and chair of the Toronto-based Global Risk Institute in Financial Services, and for Marcel Côté, who founded Montreal consulting firm Secor Inc. in 1975 and served as an Intact board member from 1997 to 1999 and then from 2004 until 2013. Cantor and Côté will be replaced by Janet De Silva and Frederick Singer. Singer is chief executive officer of Dulles, Virginia-based educational software maker, Echo360Inc. De Silva is a former Sun Life Financial executive who now works in Hong Kong as Dean of Ivey Asia, a campus of Western University’s business school. Other existing directors elected May 8 include: Chairman Claude Dussault [6a], CEO of Intact from 2001 until 2007; Intact president and CEO Charles Brindamour [6b], an actuary who has been at Intact for 21 years; Yves Brouillette, CEO from 1993 until 2001; and Robert Crispin, former vice chairman of The Travelers Companies Inc.

7 Toronto-based EGI Financial Holdings Inc. has appointed Michel Trudeau [7] as its chief actuary. EGI, which operates in Canada through Echelon General Insurance Company, offers property and casualty coverage, including non-standard auto. The company also has subsidiaries in the United States and Europe. Trudeau, a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, has more than 30 years in the actuarial and p&c industry, EGI notes in a statement.

8 Grain Insurance of Winnipeg will now be known as Wynward Insurance Group. The Wynward brand “more closely aligns with our business plan, our products and services, our dynamic team, our broker partners and our commitment to our customers across the country,” Darryl Levy, the president and CEO of Wynward Insurance Group, notes in a press release. In addition to agriculture, Wynward offers other commercial coverage, such as liability and equipment breakdown.

9 Commercial brokerage Burns & Wilcox Canada has hired Kim Neale [9] as a senior environmental underwriter working out of Toronto. An environmental engineer, Neale had been an underwriter at Elliott Special Risks, where she worked on policies such as pollution liability and environmental errors and omissions. She has an engineering degree and is working toward her Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation.

10 The Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) has elected personal injury lawyer Charles Gluckstein [10], who has been on the OTLA Board of Directors since 2001, as its president for 2013-2014. Gluckstein’s specialties include disability, occupier’s liability, product liability and medical malpractice. OTLA will continue to work with the insurance industry and other stakeholders to “encourage dialogue about the serious issues surrounding automobile insurance in this province,” says Gluckstein, whose firm, Gluckstein Personal Injury Lawyers, is based in Toronto.

11 DAS Legal Protection Insurance Company Ltd. of Toronto, also known as DAS Canada, recently announced that former Zurich Canada head Robert Landry [11] is now on the firm’s Board of Directors. Landry, who has previously served as chair of the Insurance Institute of Canada and as president and CEO of Zurich Insurance Company (Canadian branch) from 2002 through 2007, is on the boards of Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company and software vendor Symbility Solutions Inc.