Comings & Goings

CASHMAN JOINS AON AS SPECIAL ADVISER

Michael W. Cashman Sr., former president and chief operating officer of E.W. Blanch Holdings Inc., has joined Chicago-based Aon Corp. as special adviser for strategic initiatives.

Also at Aon, Joseph W. Shenton has been appointed a senior vp and the president of Aon Investor Strategies Inc., Aon's corporate shareholder-value consulting services company. John Canfield has been appointed as Aon's vp-corporate communications.

Swett & Crawford Group has named several vps, including Ron Stone, a broker in the company's Fresno, Calif., branch office; Doug Hathaway, who will work on product and program development out of Swett & Crawford's Minneapolis office; and Robert J. Finck, who will manage the casualty division of the company's Atlanta office.

Kris Davis, Stephen Hobbs, Trindl Swanson and Steve Weins all were promoted to senior vp at J&H Marsh & McLennan Inc.'s Orange County, Calif., office.

Acordia Inc. has named Kathleen Krishnan vp-controller.

Hobbs Group L.L.C. has named Charles B. Clark as its new chief financial officer. The company also named Patricia G. Chadwick as vp-administration, T. Gregory Richardson as controller, and Thomas R. Chudy as senior vp.

Near North Insurance Brokerage Inc. appointed Joseph Zuniga, based in Near North's Chicago office, as vp-workers compensation consulting.

Insurers

Ernest T. Patrikis, former first vp of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has joined American International Group Inc. as special adviser to Chairman Maurice R. Greenberg on regulatory matters. Also at AIG, William N. Dooley has been elected senior vp-financial services, and Carol A. McFate has been elected treasurer. Additionally, Michael J. Castelli and Robert P. Jacobson have been made vps and deputy comptrollers, and Charles M. Lucas, director of market risk management, has been elected a vp. Finally, at AIG Risk Finance, Michael S. Canter has joined the company as senior vp-insurance securitization, and David A. Rockwell has joined as senior vp-credit.

Allendale Insurance has announced that Robert J. Baker, engineering manager for New York operations, has been made a vp, as has David R. Thoman, engineering manager for Los Angeles operations. Also at Allendale, Gregory S. Hazlett has been named an assistant vp, and Brett J. Dupre has been appointed assistant vp-operations engineering manager, Boston operations.

Jeff Gans has become senior vp-commercial group at Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. Additionally at Fireman's, Ray Mazzotta has been named commercial insurance division senior vp-health care industries, and Christy Simon has been named vp and managing executive of the company's newly expanded diversified risk unit.

The board of directors at Reliance Group Holdings Inc. named Lowell C. Freiberg, the company's chief financial officer, to the position of executive vp. Howard E. Steinberg, general counsel, also has been named an executive vp. Also at Reliance, treasury department manager Albert A. Benchimol has been named senior vp-treasurer, and deputy general counsel Paul W. Zeller has been named senior vp. At subsidiary Reliance Insurance Co., Debra Taylor has been promoted to vp-information technology, and Charles Sizer has been promoted to vp-actuarial claims.

Reinsurers

Brian S. Murphy has joined Zurich Reinsurance (North America) Inc. as senior vp-global catastrophe reinsurance manager, and Gary Prestia has joined as senior vp managing the company's property division. Jeffrey Tretin has joined Zurich Re's Centre Re division as vp-underwriting. Also, Denis deBaroncelli has joined the ZC Insurance Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Zurich Re (North America), as president and chief operating officer. Mr. deBaroncelli also will be a senior vp of Zurich Re (North America) and a member of the executive management team.

Michael C. Watson has taken on the newly created post of executive vp and chief operating officer of Odyssey Re Group Ltd. He remains chairman and CEO of Odyssey Re Group's London- and Bermuda-based subsidiaries. At Odyssey Re Corp., James R. Van Slyke, branch manager of the corporation's San Francisco branch office, has been elected vp, and Ronald Yarashefski has joined Odyssey Re Corp. as vp-casualty treaty.

K. Yeng Chau has been named CEO and managing director of U.S. Re-Asia, a newly formed unit of U.S. Re Cos. Mr. Chau will operate out of U.S. Re's office in Shanghai.

Michael A. Kemp has become president and chief operating officer of LDG Reinsurance.

Other suppliers

Blair C. Fensterstock, former partner in Brock, Fensterstock, Silverstein & McAuliffe, has opened a law firm, Fensterstock & Partners L.L.P. Mr. Fensterstock is joined by partners Ingrid A. Dreimann, Jorn A. Holl and Clifford James, his litigation group at his previous firm; as well as Slavi Pachovski, a former ambassador of Bulgaria to the United Nations. The New York-based firm will represent clients in all areas of complex civil litigation, including securities, employment, insurance, contracts and product liability.

In additional changes among other suppliers:

Susan J. Ousey was named vp-operations at ACORD, where she will be responsible for all administrative and support services, including information technology, accounting, customer service and meetings.

At Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Texas, Patricia A. Hemingway Hall has been named senior vp-Geographic Business Units and

Health Care Management, and Dr.

Mark S. Clanton has been named vp-Managed Care and Medical Quality. Also at BC/BS of Texas, Larry J. Newsom has been named senior vp and chief executive officer of life operations, and Patsy B. Liens has been named president and director of its life and disability subsidiary, Group Life & Health Insurance Co.

Sean F. Mooney has been named research director and economist and has been elected senior vp at Guy Carpenter & Co. Inc. He is overseeing the research and publication of Guy Carpenter's industry briefs and white papers. Mr. Mooney formerly was a researcher and senior vp at the Insurance Information Institute.

At Insurance Services Office Inc., Roy S. Nicolosi has been named senior vp and chief information officer. He comes from Gtech Corp., where he was senior vp in charge of developing, installing and maintaining hardware, software and communications technologies. Also at ISO, Virginia Lee has been promoted to vp of the new department of insurance systems development. Ms. Lee will be responsible for actuarial, statistical and text systems.

Group Health Inc. has named three vps. Thomas F. Roesle has been appointed vp-office of management and budget; Steven Denes has been named vp-broker sales; and Sharon Schmerzler, promoted to vp-hospital negotiations.

Gary Gilbert has been named president and CEO of Insurance Data Processing Inc. The appointment, in effect since July 1997, was announced only recently. Mr. Gilbert is focusing on customer responsiveness and in-house productivity. Robert H. Nelson Jr. has been IDP's vp-business development since late April. He is focusing primarily on the company's Vision 21 P/C insurance management program.

Rich Ostuw has joined Watson Wyatt Worldwide as its global director of health care consulting services.

Robert O'Brien Jr. has been named chairman of William M. Mercer Inc.'s Global Health Care and Group Benefits Practice Group and leader of its U.S. practice.