Policy adminstration

Columbia, S.C. — David Huntington has been promoted to president and COO of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and Planned Administrators Inc. (PAI), a third-party administrator that adjudicates claims for health care benefits for employers, parent companies, affiliates and other insurance companies. PAI is a wholly owned subsidiary of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. As PAI president, Huntington is responsible for all aspects of the company, including sales, marketing, finance, network management and operations. Huntington previously worked for BlueCross BlueShield, joining the company in 1975 as a claims examiner. He was promoted in 1984 to marketing account executive for the company's first multi-state account. Following several promotions, he was named vice president of large group marketing. Source: BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina

Brookfield, Wis. — Fiserv Inc., a provider of technology solutions, announced it has added a member to its board of directors, Doyle Simons, executive vice president of Temple-Inland Inc., an Austin, Texas-based Fortune 500 company with interests in financial services, real estate, forest products and paper.

Lexington, Mass. — FirstBest Systems Inc. has named insurance industry veteran William Jenkins and investor Michael Toporek to its board of directors. In addition, the firm has created a strategic advisory board (SAB), which extends and advises the FirstBest board of directors and executive management team. Leonard C.G. (Geoff) Smith and Steven Friedman have been named to the SAB. Headquartered in Lexington, Mass., FirstBest Systems was formed in 2006 with seasoned leadership and funding from NextStage LLC, a private equity firm.

Boca Raton, Fla. - Imperial Finance & Trading LLC, a leader in premium finance for life insurance, has appointed Jonathan Moulton and Jim Purdy as national sales managers. Together, they will focus on expanding Imperial's presence in the specialty finance industry, as well as manage a nationwide staff. Jonathan Moulton comes to the company with 10 years of premium finance sales experience. He was previously broker relations manager for Life Settlement Corp., a division of Peachtree Life Settlements. He also has been a sales and service representative for R.E. Moulton Inc., and the director of sponsorship for Bill Bass Concerts. Jim Purdy also brings 10 years of industry experience to his position at Imperial. He was broker relations manager for Life Settlement Corp., the founder and chief executive officer of Florida Builders Diversified. Source: Imperial Finance & Trading LLC

London and Pearl River, N.Y. - Sue Langley, director, market operations and North America, Lloyd's of London, has been appointed to the ACORD board of directors. Langley joined Lloyd's of London in July 2007 and is responsible for ensuring operational efficiency remains at the top of the Lloyd's agenda while also managing their offices in the United States and Canada.

New York - Integro Insurance Brokers announced the hiring of Greg Daniels, a managing principal, and Sheila Bauer, a principal, to lead the firm's Nashville office. Greg Daniels brings 32 years of P&C experience to Integro, and has developed alternative risk solutions for healthcare and life sciences clients.

Austin, Texas - Customer Operations Performance Center Inc. (COPC), announced the relocation of its international corporate headquarters from New York to Austin, Texas. COPC Inc. provides consulting, training and certification services to buyers and providers of customer service, customer contact center and business process outsourcing operations.

Toronto - Camilion Solutions Inc., a provider of product development and policy administration systems to the insurance industry, announced that the company has appointed Susan Hutt as senior vice president, services. Hutt, who previously served as senior vice president, global services for Workbrain, will assume responsibility for Camilion's services organization including implementation, training and customer support. Prior to joining Camilion, Hutt held executive and management positions with various companies. Source: Camilon Solutions Inc.

New York - The American Life Insurance Congress Ltd. (ALIC) has adopted a mission statement and elected its founding board of governors at a meeting held on July 27, 2007.

Mayfield Village, Ohio — The Progressive Group of Insurance Cos., who introduced the first incarnation of its Web site in 1995, has unveiled its new Web 2.0 site, which they tout as the industry’s first.

New York — New York Life Insurance Co. announced today that Senior VP Eileen Slevin has been elected CIO. She reports to Executive VP and Chief Administrative Officer Frank Boccio.

Glenmont , N.Y. — Data collected by a group of professional insurance agents that ranks insurance carrier performance is now available online.The Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) of Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York, a Glenmont, N.Y.-based voluntary, membership-based trade association representing professional, independent property/casualty insurance agents, published its company performance survey database, the result of a five-year collaborative project in which PIA members ranked the performance of more than 80 insurance companies.

Brookfield, Wis. — Fiserv Inc. is selling substantially all of its health businesses to Minneapolis-based UnitedHealthcare, a business of United Health Group, one of America’s largest health care companies, for $775 million in cash, the company reports.The Brookfield, Wis., provider of information technology services to the financial and insurance industries worldwide, said that the transaction is anticipated to close by the end of 2007 or in the first quarter of 2008, subject to required regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Few people would argue that Internet functionality has improved over the past few years. But some may argue whether consumers are shopping more on the Web. The fact is, organizations from many industries are using the Web in a variety of ways to drive potential customers to their Web sites. Recent estimates place the online advertising market at more than $28 billion. Boston-based Celent LLC cites the recent acquisitions of online advertising marketplaces by major online players such as Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft as a clear indication that a battle is on to get to the customer through online advertising. Insurance companies need to factor in the costs of marketing online and decide on a targeted strategy.The rate of online marketing growth varies among lines of business. But the constant throughout: Online marketing is growing. The insurance industry may look to other industries as the reason for the growth, says Lisa Phillips, senior analyst at New York-based eMarketer Inc. "In general, most businesses are moving at least part of their marketing budgets online. They're following consumers who are online shopping and comparing prices, etc. People have come to depend on the Internet for any kind of research," she says.

It's incredible how quickly technology, and the accessibility of the Internet and Web-enabled devices have evolved-even in the past few years. With these rapid advancements, both society and insurers are forced to adapt. So now that anyone can check claims status on their iPod, laptop or PDA from anywhere in the world, there's no excuse for carriers not to ramp up their online customer service offerings in an effort to better serve their Web-savvy client base.To many people, upgrading online customer service may seem the next logical step in the development of the Internet as a whole. However, many insurers may not be keeping pace with competition that is offering services and tools that not only attract new customers, but also address client's needs.

Much like soccer, the concept of bank insurance or "bancassurance" enjoys a much higher profile outside the United States than within.While the idea of banks offering insurance products is not new, in much of the world, the practice is, and has only taken off in the past two decades. In parts of Europe, such as France, Italy and Spain, the adoption of bank insurance has grown steadily as consumers have become accustomed to their bank as a distribution channel for insurance products.

In the course of our normal business, our editors pride themselves on touching base daily with you, our readers-insurers, reinsurers, members of your distribution networks (managing general agents, brokers and agents) and the technology solution providers who support you. They ask about your challenges, and listen to your concerns as well as those expressed by our editorial advisory board experts. We also regularly garner feedback from informal Web polls and online surveys.We hear a lot of the same issues: In a softening market marked by increased merger and acquisition activity, your challenge is to remain competitive, be first to market, lower your costs, and give your distribution networks and the customers they serve the necessary tools to succeed. In the words of one reader, "it's like trying to stay in the driver's seat and navigate an ever-changing, congested, winding road."

JACKSON LAUNCHES BENEFITS CENTERThe Living Benefits Selection Center (LBSC) from Jackson National Life Insurance Co., Lansing, Mich., is designed to enable registered representatives to get instant, client-approved output based on a client's profile information after answering a handful of qualifying questions. The tool also features multimedia presentations, fact sheets and side-by-side comparisons of Jackson's optional living benefits.

As men and women retire from careers in insurance technology, insurers are scrambling to find technology professionals who will be able to deal adeptly with all manner of platforms, from legacy to service-oriented architecture.Complicating this problem is the fact that, although the U.S. Dept. of Labor expects IT careers to be among the fastest growing occupations through 2014, females represent only 14% of the up-and-coming computer science and engineering professionals from which to choose, according to Computing Research Assoc., Washington, D.C.

Is the demise of customer relationship management (CRM) software greatly exaggerated? Insurance Networking News asked Leo Schneider, senior vice president for insurance SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany, to explain his philosophy of why CRM, on the surface, appears to be an enterprisewide moving target.INN: What is the current perception of CRM?