Claims People: Zurich, IAT, AqualisBraemar and Accūrō Solutions

Zurich North America has appointed Terry-Dawn Thomas as head of Claims University, a platform that trains Zurich employees interested in working for its claims department.

Thomas will report to Doug Meyers, chief operations officer for North America claims. She will continue to work from Zurich’s Atlanta office.

Thomas will focus on creating a consistent and collaborative learning experience. Claims University is part of Zurich’s Claiming our Future program, which offers employees development and growth opportunities across all lines and experience levels, the carrier said in a press release.

Thomas has been with Zurich for eight years. She previously served as a managing attorney for the staff legal office in Atlanta.

Prior to joining Zurich, she was an attorney in private4 practice for 24 years. In 2011 she joined GEICO as a managing attorney.

IAT Insurance Group, a speciality property and casualty and surety carrier based in Raleigh, N.C., appointed Joseph R. Smith as senior vice president, property and inland marine claims.

Smith previous worked for Chubb, most recently as senior vice president, field property claim leader. He led a team of 225 employees.

Smith also managed most complex commercial and personal lines property claims. He worked on niche markets such as builder’s risk, third party administration services, habitation, winders, life scenes and high-net-worth homeowners during his career, IAT said.

Smith holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his insurance career, he spent five years as a Counterintelligence Officer for the U.S. Army.

AqualisBraemar LOC, a London-based international provider of insurance services to the offshore and marine markets, has appointed Charles Honner as global managing director of loss adjusting.

The company said in a press release that its adjusters specialize in the investigation and resolution of insurance claims and commercial disputes within the energy, power, mining, petrochemicals, renewables and maritime industries. Key services include loss adjusting, expert witness and dispute resolution.

Honner is based in Houston. The appointment expands his role as AqualisBraemar LOC’s managing director for adjusting in the Americas. Previously, Honner was a director with AqualisBraemar LOC’s Singapore office.

Before moving into adjusting, Honner worked for nearly 14 years in the upstream oil and gas industry, working as a process engineer for both oil services companies and a global operator.

Honner holds degrees in chemical engineering and business.

Investors who launched this year Accūrō Solutions said they searched in vain to acquire a bill review company, but decided in the end to hire managed care technology experts Steve Junker and Patrick Isaac to “build bill review and workflow systems from the ground up.”

Junker was appointed as chief information officer. He works with executives and sales teams on client solutions, the company said. Previously, he was principal of Numeral Technology, providing technology consulting services to workers’ compensation managed care companies. His expertise is in medical bill review, preferred provider organizations, analytics, document management, and payment management applications. Prior employers were Service First Medical, CareWorks, MCMC, Universal SmartComp, and Litigation Solutions.

Isaac was appointed chief technology officer. He manages internal technology, including application development and system architecture. Most recently, he served as vice president of information technology for Paradigm and earlier held technical leadership positions with Universal SmartComp, Align Networks, and Adva-Net.

Based in Sarasota, Floa, Accūrō Solutions provides bill processing technology and services.