Claims People: Charles Taylor, Sodoro Law Firm, SCA, Colonial Claims and Crawford & Co.

Charles Taylor has appointed a new global operations manager and four marine surveyors to its Marine Technical Services division. They will operate from Charles Taylor offices in New York, Boston, Savannah and San Francisco.

Lillian Aquilia was hired as operations manager. She will responsible for the coordination and instruction of surveyor assignments on behalf of underwriters, the London-based professional services firm said in a press release.

“The U.S. expansion is a critical building block that reinforces our commitment to creating a unified, global marine surveying structure to support maritime clients and their assets worldwide,” stated Oliver Hutchings, managing director of Charles Taylor Marine.

Charles Taylor Marine also appointed:

• John Poulson, who has 40 years experience in marine engineering, surveying, consulting, claims and loss prevention. As a senior manager, Poulson has held various leadership roles for the coordination and oversight of global marine surveying and consulting operations, quality control and dispute resolution, the company said. He is a chartered engineer with a Master of Science degree from the University of Portsmouth.
• Sean Murphy, a chartered engineer and naval architect with seven years of consulting experience in maritime and engineering matters focused on mitigating incident risk. He holds a Bachelors’ degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Webb Institute and a Masters’ degree in Engineering Management from Duke University.
• Glenn Walker, a master mariner and marine surveyor with 25 years dedicated to the U.S. Merchant Marine and yachting industry for commercial, government and private vessels. His expertise encompasses project and personnel management, crew mentoring and vessel operations.
• Peter Poulson, is a marine engineer and surveyor overseeing surveying and consulting services for a cross-section of instructing principals. He has extensive passenger vessel experience in the Antarctic with CMI, Inc. and on ultra-deep water drilling ships.

A senior technical director will also join the team in the United Kingdom, effective Friday, Charles Taylor said.

The Sodoro + Mooney + Lenaghan law firm, based in Omaha, Nebraska, announced the appointment of Betsy S. Seeba-Walters and Steven V. Golej. Both specialize in high-exposure insurance claims.

Seeba-Walters has spent more than a decade litigating both civil and criminal cases in multiple jurisdictions across Nebraska, Iowa and Florida, the firm said. As a former criminal prosecutor and in-house insurance defense counsel, she has litigated various serious criminal felonies and civil negligence cases, having tried over 38 cases to jury.

Golej specializes in worker’s compensation matters and general liability cases. Before joining the Sodoro firm, he worked for major insurance companies where he handled litigated matters for commercial auto, trucking and general liability.

Managing Partner Patrick Sodoro said the appointments will deepen the law firm’s “pool of legal wisdom.”

“They both have robust expertise working in-house for insurance carriers that will aid in our ability to win complex high-exposure cases,” he said in a press release.

SCA Appraisal has appointed Jose Hermida to lead a new team that will help insurance carrier clients cope with Department of Insurance re-inspections and regulatory compliance.

Hermida has worked for the Burbank, Calif.-based SCA for more than 20 years, SCA President Tim Davis said in a press release.

“The regulatory requirements in some states is becoming ever more complex and compliance is critical for our clients,” Davis said. “The establishment of a dedicated unit ensures that compliance. Being able to meet the unique needs of our clients in specifically-regulated markets with the DOI program further illustrates our evolution from an independent appraisal company to an integrated appraisal company.”

Clients will have three program options within the “DOI program,” SCA said. Specific vehicles can be assigned for re-inspection. A selection of vehicles can be made by SCA based on geography and claim count. Or, clients can opt for a fully-managed program that uses rental car logs to identify re-inspection opportunities in order to meet compliance. In all cases SCA provides the necessary re-inspections and supplemental reporting.

Colonial Claims, an independent adjusting shop based in Dunedin, Fla, has appointed John Cerasuolo as chief executive officer.

Cerasuolo will serve alongside founder Doug Branham, who will continue his involvement as chairman.

Cerasuolo was previously CEO of ADS Security, a US electronic security business. At ADS, he restructured the company, secured rapid revenue growth, increased customer retention, and made multiple successful acquisitions, Colonial Claims said in a press release.

“This is a time of real change within our industry, and for the world of loss adjusting,” Branham said in a prepared statement. “John’s experience in growing companies and leading technological evolution is what both Colonial and our profession need. I am very pleased John chose to lead the company and help our customer-first team raise the bar for property adjusting.”

Crawford & Co. has appointed Greg Fleming as vice president of product development and quality assurance for its Crawford Contractor Connection program.

Fleming will report to Contractor Connection program President Lance Malcolm, the Atlanta-based claims services company said in a press release.

Fleming has more than 28 years of property and casualty claims experience, Crawford said. He previously worked at USAA, where he held several senior claims leadership, marketing and sales executive positions, during his 18-year tenure. Prior to his position at USAA, Greg served as a branch manager at Crawford.

Fleming earned his Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 2014.

He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Education.