Executive Changes
Wyoming, Tennessee Name Insurance Commissioners

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has named Jeffrey Rude as the state insurance commissioner.

Rude was appointed interim commissioner in June. Before becoming interim commissioner, Rude spent five years in the department as the deputy commissioner and another year as senior health policy and planning analyst.

Rude succeeds Paul Thomas Glause, who was appointed commissioner in 2015.

Before working at the department, Rude served 24 years in the U.S. Air Force as a judge advocate. He was general counsel for a number of different organizations, the last being 20th Air Force, based in Cheyenne. He also specialized in the investigation of aircraft mishaps and retired in the rank of colonel.

Earlier, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee appointed Hodgen Mainda commissioner for the state Department of Commerce and Insurance.

Mainda serves as vice president for community development at the Electric Power Board in Chattanooga.

He succeeds Julie Mix McPeak, who announced in May she would be leaving the post for an opportunity in the private sector. Carter Lawrence began serving as new interim commissioner of commerce and insurance in June.

In his role with the board, Mainda built partnerships across the state and federal level and increased its role in regional economic development, according to a statement from Lee's office.

In addition to his work with EPB, Mainda serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. Mainda also is a member of the Leadership Tennessee Class of 2019 and a 2018 graduate of the Harvard Business School Young American Leaders Program.

—Timothy Darragh

MS Amlin Expands CEO Leadership Role in Reinsurance Business

Global insurer and reinsurer MS Amlin said Chris Beazley, chief executive officer of MS Amlin AG, will be expanding his leadership role to include all of MS Amlin's reinsurance business, effective immediately.

Beazley takes over the responsibilities from James Few, global managing director of MS Amlin's reinsurance division. Few is joining TigerRisk Partners, a privately held reinsurance broker, as CEO of their London office. Few joined MS Amlin in 2015 and drove the evolution of the global reinsurance offering.

In his expanded role, Beazley will take sole responsibility for setting the strategy of the group's reinsurance business and will be supported by Dominic Peters, chief underwriting officer, and Phil Wooldridge as reinsurance lead and joint active underwriter for MSAUL, the group's Lloyd's platform.

Beazley joined MS Amlin in September 2007. He established the Singapore operations as managing director and principal officer. In September 2018, he was appointed CEO of MS Amlin AG. Prior to joining MS Amlin, Beazley was an energy broker with Willis since 2001 based in London and the U.S.

CNO Financial Names Chief Actuary

CNO Financial Group has named Karen DeToro chief actuary.

DeToro will join the company's executive leadership group and report to Gary C. Bhojwani, chief executive officer of CNO.

DeToro has been in the insurance industry for more than 25 years and joins CNO from New York Life, where she has held executive leadership positions in finance operations, product development, underwriting, strategy, and governance, including serving as vice president and chief actuary of New York Life Direct. She previously was a principal at Deloitte Consulting and served as a practice leader for its insurance enterprise risk management and actuarial transformation group.

Protective Insurance Names CFO and Chief Information Officer

Protective Insurance Corp. has named John Barnett as chief financial officer and Bahr Omidfar as chief information officer.

Barnett was CFO and executive vice president at First Acceptance Corp. since October 2018 and previously served as senior vice president of finance from May 2007 to March 2013. He has held various other management and manufacturing roles during his career.

Omidfar previously served as chief technology officer at CNA Insurance. Bahr served in various senior vice president roles with Fidelity Investments from 2013 to 2018. Bahr has also held roles at Rockwell Automation, Raytheon, Motorola, Deloitte, and Northrup Grumman Corp.

TigerRisk Names Chief Operating Officer

TigerRisk Partners LLC has named Manoj Gupta as chief operating officer, based in New York.

Prior to joining TigerRisk, Gupta was president of Third Point Reinsurance Ltd.'s U.S. subsidiary. He held various senior-level positions at Third Point Re, including head of business development and executive vice president, underwriting.

Prior to Third Point Re, Gupta was lead portfolio manager for catastrophe reinsurance at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where he launched three standalone catastrophe risk funds and placed reinsurance risk within the firm's multi-strategy hedge funds. He has also held positions at Benfield and McKinsey &Co., the company said in a statement.

Co-Founder of Humana, David Jones, Dies at 88

David Jones, chief executive officer of Humana Inc. for 37 years and board chairman for 44 years, died Sept. 18 in Louisville, Kentucky. He was 88.

Jones co-founded Humana with the late Wendell Cherry in 1961. For most of the company's history, Jones was chairman and CEO. The company's first business, a nursing home, opened in Louisville the following year. By the late 1960s the company, then known as Extendicare, was the largest U.S. nursing home operator. They went public in 1968.

By 1974, the company sold its nursing homes and began acquiring hospitals and changed its name to Humana. In April 2005, Jones retired as chairman, in accordance with Humana's policy requiring board members to step down at the annual shareholders meeting following their 73rd birthday.

Nationwide Expands Executive Leadership Team

Nationwide has named Mike Mahaffey as executive vice president, chief strategy officer, and Amy Shore to the newly created role of chief customer officer.

Mahaffey will report to Kirt Walker, chief executive officer-elect, who succeeds Steve Rasmussen, who was to retire in early October.

Mahaffey joined Nationwide in 2005 as associate vice president of enterprise risk management. His career has included roles at Gibson, Dunn &Crutcher law firm, Deloitte Consulting and as an adjunct finance professor at Ohio State University.

Shore will also report to Walker. She joined Nationwide 22 years ago and has more than 32 years of experience. She will join the executive leadership team as chief customer officer.

Berkshire Life Names New President

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America has named Lawrence “Larry” Hazzard president of Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian, to succeed Gordon Dinsmore.

Dinsmore, senior vice president, will focus on new product innovation and ensure a smooth transition of his responsibilities before retiring at the end of the year, after 10 years of service, the company said in a statement.

Hazzard, currently vice president, head of individual and multi-life disability income product and underwriting, will take on expanded responsibilities as head of all disability income product, underwriting and claims, as well as become president of Berkshire Life.

Hazzard has been with Guardian for over 12 years and has more than 25 years of disability income leadership.

Allianz Life Financial Services Names President

Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America has promoted Corey Walther to president of Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, its wholesale broker-dealer.

Walther, in his new role, will be responsible for driving sales momentum for all product lines through the Allianz Life Financial Services channel. He will lead the strategic direction of the organization and will be responsible for expanding the company's wholesale distribution network.

Walther has more than 25 years of experience in financial services, including the past 21 at Allianz Life. Prior to joining the company, Walther was an investment executive at RBC.

Liberty Mutual Names North America Chief Underwriting Officer

Liberty Mutual Insurance has named David Perez as chief underwriting officer for global risk solutions in North America.

In this new role as CUO, Perez will partner with underwriting leaders in GRS' North American businesses to drive underwriting strategy and operations. He will also oversee the training and development of the underwriting community.

Perez has been with Liberty Mutual since 2012, most recently as executive vice president of national insurance specialty.