Who? What? Where? Darrell Verbonac
Broker News On the broker side, there have been a number of changes, both in personnel and office moves around the southern part of the province. In news from Calgary, a new broker is now on the scene as Charlene Gouthro and Harvey Kunz purchased the book of business from Clarke Insurance and are now operating under the name of Gold Star Insurance. As reported in the last issue of The Alberta Broker, Westland Insurance out of British Columbia, which already owned Ashford Insurance, purchased Palliser Insurance. Westland has now moved the Ashford operation into Palliser’s premises and is operating under the name of Palliser. Lynn Butters, who was with Ashford, is the new manager for the combined operation. John White, who was a partner in Palliser, retired. Costen and Associates, which purchased Glenmore Insurance, closed the former Glenmore office off of Macleod Trail and moved all the operations into Costen’s Kensington Road NW location. As part of the change, former Glenmore owner Karen Sandeman, moved to the Costen office. In staffing moves … • Karen Peterson moved from Young & Haggis Insurance to MHK Insurance • Kasandra Klassen moved from Blue Circle Insurance to Heritage Benefit Planners • Anna Marie Piccone is new at BKI Risk Management, having left Rogers Insurance • Tam Kuria and Mike Alarie joined Marsh Canada from Aon
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The Alberta Broker June - July 2012
• Two Calgary brokers left the city and headed a bit south – Ian McFarland left Church Eaton for McFarlane Agencies in Okotoks and Chris Sharp left Renfrew Insurance to join Western Financial Group in its head office commercial marketing division • Chad Schmiedge left Unigroup Western Insurance Brokers to join HUB International • Alex Husain moved from HB Group to Rogers Insurance • Over at Lloyd Sadd, Mark Shaul who had been with Marsh Canada has come on board, and congratulations go to Paul Constance and his wife on the arrival of a new son, Luke. New brokerage staff include: • John Martin at BFL Canada • Alison Dixon at Dalton Timmis Insurance • Tracy Stewart at The Insurance Place • Bryan Pitchko at Renfrew Insurance • Dawn Rankin at Action Insurance • Fardin Ahmed at Sharp Insurance Congratulations & Best Wishes • Doug Lyall was appointed to vice president of product development and supplier relations. Doug was the office manager of WFG’s Olds office before making this move to its head office. Doug gets a second set of congratulations for his marriage to Carmen Cloutier, who previously worked for HUB Phoenix in Red Deer. • Best wishes go to long time veteran of the insurance industry Cheryl Tyson, who retired from Renfrew Insurance and moved down to Costa Rica.
• Rogers Insurance was selected by Alberta Venture magazine as the Best Workplace for Organizations of 101 to 750 Employees in Alberta. • John and Ellen Lee and the staff of AGM Insurance on the celebration of their 10th Anniversary on March 1st. John and Ellen hosted a very nice celebratory luncheon with many customers, underwriters and competitors in attendance. • Up in Red Deer, Harley Shoemaker took over the reins as president at Platinum Insurance as Lee Sherback left the organization to join Lloyd Sadd. • Congratulations go to Ing & McKee’s Sandy Vogt on becoming a grandmother, with the birth of a grandson Dre Willy Vogt. •Another long time friend, Pam McDonagh, retired from Western Financial Group’s Red Deer office. Pam bought a new truck and trailer and has plans for touring around Alberta. • Down in Lethbridge, Lundgren & Young opened an office, which is being staffed by Chad Leniuk, who moved down from L&Y’s Calgary office. In Sympathy Sadly, Don Walker of A-WIN Insurance passed away March 25th at the age of 57 years after a battle with cancer. Don was one of the good guys, and spent almost 30 years in the insurance industry. Condolences go to his wife, and co-worker at A-WIN, Debi.