Claims People: SCA, AqualisBraemar and Munich Re

SCA Appraisal has created a new Customer Success division and appointed Monica Diaz as its senior director.

SCA, based in Burbank, California, appointed Lucano Figueroa to lead the division’s Financial Services/Government Group, Yesenia Barreto to lead the Third-Party Administrators Group and Amye Chow to lead the Insurance Group. Figueroa has 18 years experience with SCA, Bareto 13 years and Chow nine years, the company said.

Diaz will be accountable for end-to-end delivery to clients across three unique markets:insurance, third-party administrators and financial services/government.

“All aspects of a claim will be handled by a vertically-integrated team that is familiar with our clients’ business objectives and processes.” Diaz stated. “We know we are an extension of our clients’ claims resources and we are aligned accordingly.”

SCA, founded in 1979, operates private passenger auto, specialty, heavy equipment and financial service appraisals in all 50 states with its own staff or through franchises.

AqualisBraemar has appointed Olivier Decombes as director of its London-based loss adjusting unit, which services European and African markets.

The firm’s adjusting service specializes in the investigation and resolution of insurance claims and commercial disputes within both the energy, power and marine industries. Key services include loss adjusting, expert witness, dispute resolution and risk assessment, the company said in a press release.

Decombes joins AqualisBraemar from Barbican Insurance Group where he held the role of head of energy, power and utilities. After graduating from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Industries Chimiques Nancy, France with a chemical engineering degree, Decombes began a 12-year career with Schlumberger as a field engineer engineer and held assignments in Africa, Latin America and the United States, the company said.

Decombes transitioned into the energy insurance market with Infrassure Ltd. in Zurich, quickly rising to the position of the energy regional manager. He later joined CV Starr with positions both in Paris and London, where he held the position of chief underwriting manager before moving on to Barbican.

“In December we launched an international recruitment drive to ramp up our adjusting business serving all aspects of the oil, gas, power and engineering sectors,” stated Allan Kelly, managing director of the AqualisBraemar’s adjusting division in Europe and West Africa. “Olivier’s appointment is part of that continuing campaign. We will add further new members to the team soon.”

The company is part of Oslo-listed consultancy group AqualisBraemar ASA.

Munich Re America announced the appointment of Cathy Smith as chief risk and underwriting officer and Kamalesh (“Kam”) Jha as senior vice president and chief underwriting officer for the reinsurer’s stock insurance carrier, American Modern.

Smith is based in Princeton, New Jersey, and reports to Tony Kuczinski, president and chief executive officer of Munich Re US Holding.

Jha succeeds Smith at the American Modern post. He is based in Amelia, Ohio, and reports to Andreas Kleiner, president and chief executive officer of American Modern.

Smith oversees regional underwriting and pricing, as well as integrated risk management for the Munich Re US property and casualty companies, which consist of Munich Reinsurance America, Inc., American Modern, HSB, and the Munich Re Specialty Insurance operations.

Smith had served as senior vice president and chief underwriting officer at American Modern since 2017. She joined American Modern in the Amelia, Ohio, home office in 2015 as vice president for regional product management, and shortly afterward was named vice president, head of product and underwriting. Smith holds a BA degree in Economics and an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Kam Jha joins American Modern with more than 20 years of experience in technology and insurance. He is responsible for execution of the American Modern product and underwriting strategy.

Jha will also become a member of the Executive Management Board of American Modern. Jha holds a Bachelor of Technology (Mechanical Engineering) degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Varanasi, India, as well as an MBA in Marketing and Product Management from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.