Moves & Views (May 01, 2010)

1 Axis Reinsurance Company has announced two appointments to its Canadian branch. Rohit Trivedi [1a] has been appointed vice president, Canadian Claims. He joins Axis from Munich Re Group, where he established and led the claims department for Munich Re’s primary arm, Temple Insurance. Vangie Artes [1b] accepted the role of assistant vice president of Axis property. She previously held underwriting and management positions at Royal & Sun Alliance, AIG and most recently Catlin Canada.

2 Sharon Ludlow has been appointed CEO of Swiss Re in Canada and head of Canadian and English Caribbean operations, effective June 1, 2010. She will succeed Jean-Jacques Henchoz, who will return to Switzerland after five years in Canada. Ludlow currently serves as chief financial officer of Swiss Re in Canada. “Sharon brings a high degree of financial and business acumen to this role and is a respected leader with established credibility across the financial services industry in Canada,” said Pierre Ozendo, chairman and CEO of Swiss Reinsurance America Corporation. “We wish to thank Jean-Jacques for his exceptional service and commitment to Swiss Re in Canada and the English Caribbean over the past five years. Thanks to his leadership, this operation has sharpened its client focus and performed very well for the firm.” Prior to her experience at Swiss Re, Ludlow was vice president of finance and administration for Liberty International Underwriters Canada. Before that, she led the demutualization and initial public offering for Canada Life Financial, where she also launched an independent subsidiary, Kanetix, an online site for insurance and mortgage purchases.

3 Derek Reedie is Catlin Canada’s newly appointed product manager for construction. Reedie has been in the industry since 1998. Most recently, he was underwriting manager of construction with Zurich. Prior to that, he worked for RSA and Dominion of Canada, where he started his career.

4 The Economical Insurance Group (TEIG) has introduced TEIG NOTA, an early notification system that informs brokers of an ‘event of interest.’ Events of interest include NSF cheques, initial assignment of an adjuster, revised adjuster assignment, invalid/incomplete banking information or a three-pay re-minder notice. Brokers can choose to receive notifications electronically via CSIO download or email in a timely manner, allowing them to be proactive when dealing with the policyholder. “Brokers rely on us to develop tools that assist them in providing the best customer service possible,” said Jorge Arruda, senior vice president of operations at TEIG. “Notifications are a key component of those tools and help to further round out our broker solutions, launched under TEIG Connex Suite.”

5 Mike Morris [5a] has been appointed vice president of central operations at Cunningham Lindsey Canada (CLC). Morris joined CLC in 1988 as a trainee. He moved through the ranks and was appointed assistant vice president in 2008. He is based at CLC’s head office in Mississauga, Ontario. In addition, Andrea Digdon [5b] has been appointed assistant vice president of the Atlantic Region at CLC. She was most recently Halifax branch manager at CLC.

6 Claudine Davoodi [6a] has been appointed as Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc.’s vice president of operations for the region of Quebec. Davoodi will continue to work closely with Quebec branch managers and will have operational responsibility for all of Crawford’s claims operations throughout the province. Andrea Zimny [6b] has been named assistant vice president of Claimsalert for Crawford operations in Canada. Claimsalert offers centralized claim intake 24 hours a day, seven days a week for Crawford clients. Zimny will continue to manage both the Waterloo and Montreal Claimsalert centres.

7 Private equity firms Stone Point Capital LLC and Hellman & Friedman LLC have acquired Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc. for approximately $1.1 billion. “We are excited to be partnering with Stone Point and Hellman & Friedman for the next stage of Sedgwick CMS’s growth,” Sedgwick CMS president and CEO David A. North said in a press release. “Stone Point and Hellman & Friedman share our vision for continuing the growth of Sedgwick CMS through focusing on our clients and delivering highly responsive, cost-effective claims and productivity management solutions,” he added. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2010, subject to usual and customary conditions and the receipt of regulatory approvals, according to a joint release. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays Capital have provided commitments to finance the transaction.

8 RSA has teamed with MarshBerry, a consulting firm, to offer RSA’s key brokers tools to grow their businesses. Marsh- Berry, a U.S. broker consulting firm, offers expertise in management, peer-to-peer exchange network, informational services, sales effectiveness and merger and acquisition advisory services. Through its resources and insurance industry knowledge, MarshBerry will act as a support tool and improvement network for key broker partners. “Our goal with MarshBerry is to help our brokers bring a new level of expertise to their business,” Shawn DeSantis, senior vice president of broker business, said in a release.

9 Kingsway Financial Services Inc. (TSX: KFS, NYSE: KFS) has announced that its president and CEO Colin Simpson, “having substantially completed the downsizing and restructuring of the Kingsway Group,” will resign on June 30, 2010 to pursue other career interests. Larry Swets, currently the company’s executive vice president of corporate development, will take over the role of president and CEO on that date. Swets was appointed to the Kingsway board in January 2009 as part of a settlement the company reached with minority shareholder Joseph Stillwell and the Stillwell Group. Simpson will remain on the company’s board of directors. The company’s chairman, Spencer L. Schneider, commented: “We thank Colin for his dedication and hard work, and we are pleased that he has agreed to continue to work with us on the board. We look forward to working with Larry in his new role.”

10 McLarens Canada, has announced two new appointments to the claims management and the sales and marketing departments. Laurie Walker [10] joins Mc- Clarens as director of Ontario auto accident benefits. She has more than 23 years of insurance adjusting experience, with extensive experience in Ontario accident benefits catastrophic claims, mediation, litigation and auditing. Dave Bernardi joins the sales and marketing team in the newly created role of regional sales manager for Quebec and Atlantic Canada. He holds 15 years of sales experience in the financial services sector.