Claims People: Verisk, Athens Administrators, WCI

Verisk announced that Maroun Mourad will succeed Rich Della Rocca as president, claims solutions on July 1.

“We have a deep and talented bench of executives at Verisk, and Maroun was selected from a strong group of diverse internal candidates,” said Mark Anquillare, Verisk president and chief operating officer, in a press release.

Mourand joined Verisk in 2015 as senior vice president for commercial lines. He was promoted to president of ISO commercial lines in 2017 and to president of life and markets in 2020.

Maroun holds a Juris Doctor and a Bachelor of Arts in political science, both from the University of California, Berkeley. He has also completed several executive education programs, including the American International Group’s Mini-MBA at the Columbia Business School and the Zurich Executive Leadership Program at the London Business School.

Del Rocca is retiring from Verisk after 27 years of service, having served in the past two years as president of claims.

“Rich helped to build an integrated and increasingly global claims business with solutions for claims fraud detection, property estimating, auto and casualty solutions – with proprietary data and innovative technologies as the foundation,” Anquillare said.

Athens Administrators has appointed Jacob Romero as vice president of Texas workers’ compensation.

Athens, a national third-party administrator based in Concord, California, said Romero has 15 years of experience with workers’ compensation claims in multiple jurisdictions.

Romero was previously claims director for PMA Companies office in Irving, Texas. Before that he was a senior corporate insurance and risk manager for LSG Group, also in Irving.

Romero received his bachelor’s degree from Ausburg University in Minneapolis and holds his Texas Adjusters License, Arkansas Adjusters License, Arizona Adjusters License and Oklahoma Adjusters License.

The Workers’ Compensation Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Tallahassee, Florida that educates claims professionals, has hired Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation Assistant Director Andrew Sabolic as executive director.

“For nearly three decades, Sabolic has been working to develop and implement major policy and regulatory workers’ compensation initiatives,” stated James N. McConnaughhay, general chair of WCI, in a press release. “Now, Sabolic brings his meaningful experience and vast network to lead WCI advocacy and education.”

Sabolic has worked on policy, regulatory and compliance issues at the Florida DWC since 2002. Prior to that, he led state relations for the National Council on Compensation Insurance in St. Louis, Missouri. He has Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Michigan State University.

The WCI sponsors an annual conference in Orlando that draws more than 7,000 workers’ compensation professionals.