What’s New: In Brief (November 16, 2009)

Pembridge Insurance Company has announced a joint venture with Brovada Technologies that is intended to offer real-time transactions aimed at improved connectivity with brokers and more efficient broker workflows.
“Pembridge has listened to the concerns of independent insurance brokers to become one of the first insurers that doesn’t require the use of a portal,” the company said in a release.
The decision to interface with Brovada’s Nexisys will deliver single sign-on and inquiry functionalities, allowing brokers to begin and end a transaction in their own broker management system.

Willis Group Holdings has appointed Eric Joost as national partner of its North American specialties segment, based in New York.
Joost will lead Willis’ client service and product development strategy across many of its industry, product and client specialties in North America.
His most recent position was national partner of Willis’ North American executive risks practice.
“As the leader of our executive risks practice, Eric balanced client-centric ideas with a pragmatic operations philosophy, which led to double-digit growth in that group,” said Don Bailey, chairman and CEO of Willis North America.