PEOPLE & PLACES

Philadelphia Insurance Cos. promoted three people in their marketingdepartment. Matthew Carroll has been appointed toregional vice president of marketing in the Western region;Matthew Davis is now vice president of marketingin the Southeast region; and Lance Goff has beennamed vice president of marketing in the Southwest region.

The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundationannounced Laura Hay as its new national sector leader for insurance atKPMG, a global network of professional service firms. Formerly,Hay served as the national industry director of KPMG's lifeinsurance segment and the national leader of the actuarial servicespractice.

Kevin W. Leong was hired at Magna CartaCos. this week as its vice president and chief claimsofficer. Leong will be leading the national claims division ofMagna Carta.

Willis Group Holdings named MarkPaasch the global head of alternative risk transfer (ART)solutions for the company. The division helps businesses transfertraditionally uninsurable risks to a third-party balance sheet.

ACE Group announced the appointments of EdGandon as casualty manager in the U.K. and Ireland alongwith Gary Etherington as property manager in theU.K. and Ireland. Gandon is responsible for developing andservicing the company's casualty book while Etherington will leadtheir property portfolio, both with an exclusive focus on globalaccounts customers.

Conner Strong & Buckelewnamed Timothy Gosnear managing director and senior vice president ofmajor accounts, and a co-practice leader of the Life SciencesGroup. Gosnear will focus on directing account services for largebusiness relationships with the company, focusing on the lifesciences.

NEW PROGRAMS

Main Street America announced the creation of a new Florida regionthat will be headed by Chris Cox as its president.The brand will operate in the state as Old DominionInsurance Co. The company also announced this week that itwill begin writing commercial surety and fidelity bonds inMississippi through the company's NGM InsuranceCo.

Xchanging plc announced the launch of its new program, which will provide premiumclaims services for construction and professional liability in theU.S. The company also appointed Roy Leeds as itsdirector of U.S. claims operations.

NEWS

United Insurance Holdings Corp announced this week its participation in theTexas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA)Depopulation Program, which works to get TWIA policyholders toaccess additional coverage options through multiplecarriers.

Markel, a provider of tenant discriminationliability, has launched a loss mitigation hot line by partnering up withWilson Elser, a full-service law-firm that alsoworks with real estate owners and brokers in regard todiscriminatory allegations.

Farm Bureau Financial Services, a client ofValenAnalytics, was awarded Celent's Model Insurer Awardthis week. The company uses Valen's InsureRight platform, whichhelps to make loss ratio improvements and enhance risk-basedpricing to achieve better underwriting results.

M&A

Cross Insurance, a subsidiary of CrossFinancial Corp., announced this week their purchase of Corcoran &Havlin Insurance Group, a Massachusetts-based independentinsurance agency. The owners of C&H will continue to lead thecompany during the merger.