Kinloch hires former USI exec

NEW YORK--Newly formed middle-market brokerage Kinloch Holdings Inc. has hired USI Holdings Corp.'s former chief operating officer, Thomas E. O'Neil, to become its executive vp.

Mr. O'Neil's "background in all aspects of insurance brokerage operations, leadership skills and success in mergers and acquisition sourcing and integration are an ideal fit based on our strategy," Robert Lockhart, Kinloch's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement Wednesday.

Mr. Lockhart, who resigned as president and COO of Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co. in May 2005, formed New York-based Kinloch last October with plans to grow the brokerage through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth (BI, Oct. 9, 2006).