People

Crawford & Co., a global independent provider of claims management solutions, named Larry C. Thomas CEO of Contractor Connection.

Thomas previously served as president for Contractor Connection, which provides insurers with a managed repair vendor network for residential and commercial property claims programs and has more than 4,500 members operating in the United States and Canada.

Amerisure named Becky Kenyon regional vice president of claims. In this position, Kenyon will report to Don A. Smith, vice president of claims.

As a member of the claim management team, Kenyon will contribute to developing the department’s strategic and operational strategy. She will also provide loss cost containment and claim-related customer service to support the department.

Prior to joining Amerisure, Kenyon was vice president, property/casualty claims at Berkley Risk Administrators, a nationwide provider of integrated risk management services. In addition, she spent more than 25 years with Travelers (formerly St. Paul Cos.), where she held leadership roles. During her tenure at Travelers, Kenyon led various areas of claims operations and was responsible for developing strategy, policies and procedures.

Marsh appointed Mark Walls workers’ compensation market research leader within its Workers’ Compensation Center of Excellence. He will be responsible for developing market research, insight and other content for Marsh colleagues, clients and prospects on emerging issues, trends, regulatory and other changes that affect the workers’ compensation market.

Walls brings to Marsh more than 20 years of experience in self-insured workers’ compensation claims handling, most recently serving as vice president-claims for Safety National.

He is the founder and manager of the Work Comp Analysis Group on LinkedIn, the largest online discussion community dedicated to workers’ compensation issues, with more than 18,000 members.

Walls will be based in St. Louis and report to Christopher Flatt, Marsh’s Workers’ Compensation Center of excellence leader.

The ACE Group named Chris Maleno division president, ACE USA.

In this role, Maleno will oversee all operations for ACE’s U.S.-based retail commercial property and casualty franchise. He will report to John Lupica, chairman, Insurance-North America.

Maleno joined ACE in 2007 as president of ACE USA Regional Operations, where he was instrumental in driving the company’s customer and broker segmentation strategies. He subsequently served as division president of ACE Casualty Risk with responsibility for the profitable growth of ACE USA’s casualty products including excess liability, construction, environmental and public entity. He was appointed chief operating officer of ACE USA in 2011 with day-to-day oversight of the company’s commercial property and casualty and accident and health businesses.

Maleno brings nearly 25 years of experience in the insurance industry to his new role. Prior to joining ACE, he held several senior leadership positions in casualty underwriting and regional operations management within the industry.

Barry Floyd was named chief financial officer at Paul Davis Restoration, a national provider of water, fire and mold damage cleanup and restoration services for residential and commercial properties.

Paul Davis, the franchisor, is headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla. and was founded in 1966. The company is a nationwide property damage restoration network with more than 300 locally owned franchises.

Previously, Floyd served as controller and director of franchisee accounting for the company. He is a Florida certified public accountant and has been employed by Paul Davis since October 2000.

Nichole Ritz joined The Institutes as director of member knowledge for the CPCU Society.

She is responsible for developing and implementing an effective strategy that will achieve the CPCU Society’s strategic goal of providing members with relevant knowledge

Ritz has extensive experience in assessing member needs and providing multiple strategies specific to knowledge management, acquisition, engagement and retention.

She previously worked at the Project Management Institute (PMI), where she developed and supported complex membership initiatives, including broad strategy and business plans for the North America and Asia Pacific regions.