A guide to this week's movements in the insurance industry
Broker
La Playa
La Playa has expanded its technology and farms & estates divisions with the appointments of Hanna Beaumont and Raoul L Greasley.
Beaumont, who takes on the role of account executive for the technology division, has previously spent six years in commercial insurance and risk management at Aon.
Greasley brings three years' experience in agricultural insurance and first-hand technical knowledge of farming. He will now take the role of farm broker in the firm's farms & estates division.
RK Harrison
RK Harrison has appointed Peter Magyar as a divisional director and Anton Verblun as an account executive.Magyar was previously a partner in the property department at JLT, having joined the firm in 1996.
For the past five years he has specialised in insurance and reinsurance programs for onshore energy clients.
Verblun was also working for JLT, but as an account handler within the company's power and utility team, servicing a variety of onshore energy clients ranging from integrated energy companies to independent power producers.
RFIB Group
Kishor Gohil has been appointed as director of the reinsurance division at RFIB non-marine, specifically to lead the development of business emanating from the Indian sub-continent.
The group has also appointed Margaret Cutler as director of the reinsurance division, focusing on Eastern European business.
MMA Insurance
Paul Hodgson has been appointed as head of underwriting at MMA Insurance.
Hodgson was previously part of the UK underwriting division at Royal & SunAlliance and has held senior positions at Zurich UK.
He will now lead the firm's recently formed senior underwriting team.
Primary Group
Sir Duncan Nichol has been appointed as non-executive director to the Primary Group board.
Nichol has held board positions on a number of the company's businesses since 2001 and is also on the group's remuneration and audit committees.
Insurer
Groupama
Craig Allen has been appointed as household underwriting manager at Groupama.
Allen was previously home product manager at More Th>n and brings significant experience in technical household underwriting and developing successful business schemes.
Sterling
Sterling Insurance Group has appointed two new senior executives, Steve Williams and Roger Humber.
Willaims was a founder member of the BNP Paribas subsidiary Cardif Pinnacle and a main board director. He joined Pinnacle in 1989, prior to working with other leading insurance and real finance organisations.
Humber also held a number of senior positions at Cardif Pinnacle. He joined the firm in 1993, having previously held senior positions at the Bank of Scotland group and Lloyds Bowmaker.
QBE
David Woodruff has been appointed as active underwriter of Syndicate 2000. Given regulatory consent he will also join the board of Limit Underwriting, the managing agency for QBE's Lloyd's operations.
Woodruff has been director of underwriting for the syndicate since 2001. He was previously active underwriter of Syndicate 2345 within QBE.
Legal
Plexus Law
Plexus Law, part of the Parabis Group, has recruited Angela Armar to its employment team in London.
Armar previously spent two years at Lyons Davidson, and prior to that trained as a solicitor with Speechly Bircham.
Other
AI Claims Solutions
John Virando has been appointed as commercial development manager at AI Claims.
Virando spent the last two years working at Fleet Accident Repair Group as general commercial manager. Prior to that, he spent six years working as business development manager at Brown Brothers, a division of Unipart.
Profile
Aquilo
Lynn Cufley has been appointed as marketing manager at Aquilo, where she will assist in raising the company's profile in the insurance and financial sectors.
Cufley was previously employed for 18 years at GAB Robins in its business development and marketing teams; and most recently as head of communications with responsibility for PR, marketing, internal communication and event management.
Clive Nicholls, chief executive of Aquilo, says: "As we grow our business, it is important that we raise Aquilo's profile in the insurance, financial and investment communities. Lynn's knowledge and expertise will be invaluable in assisting Aquilo in achieving that goal."
On her decision to join Aquilo, Cufley says: "It's an exciting time to join Aquilo as there are many new initiatives and products; particularly the new inspection and reinstatement service, AIRS. I am looking forward to using my experience to enhance the profile and profitability of Aquilo."
