Anton Zalesky, FCAS, MAAA was recently named chief actuary at
AAIS.
Anton earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics from a
university in his native Ukraine, and holds masters degrees in
statistics and computer engineering from Wayne State University,
Detroit, Mich.
Since graduating from Wayne State, Anton worked in actuarial
research capacities for three companies before joining AAIS in
June:
-
Auto Club Insurance Association,
Dearborn, Mich.;
-
COUNTRY Financial in Bloomington, Ill.;
and
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The Travelers in Hartford, Conn.
Rick Maka, AAIS
director of marketing since June 2004, was recently named
director of marketing and strategic alliances.
Rick's expanded title reflects his role in
developing and managing partnerships with other organizations to
provide AAIS members with risk information services that
complement AAIS programs.
Rick has been instrumental in developing the
“AAISalliance” announced in a previous
Advisory, and scheduled to
be launched in the coming weeks.
Within 10 days of each other, the supreme
courts of Ohio and Florida each ruled that defamation suits can
be filed in those states against non-residents for online
comments posted outside the state but accessible to someone
within the state.
In the Ohio case, an Ohio company sued a
Virginia man who made critical comments about the company on
online racing sites. (The company sells car racing equipment.)
In the Florida case, a Nevada firm whose
principal operations are in Florida sued the owner of a website
based in the state of Washington; the site had reportedly
accused the company of violating laws regulating online
activity.
The cases will now proceed in lower courts.
A recent
notice from the Connecticut Insurance Department reminds all licensed producers and surplus lines brokers that
it is illegal in that state to place a risk in the surplus lines
market if an insured has been offered a renewal from an admitted
carrier or residual market mechanism.
The notice was prompted by reports that a
surplus lines broker had placed a coastal risk in the surplus
lines market even after its existing, admitted carrier had
offered to renew the policy.
Two AAIS staff members will conduct a web
seminar on inland marine and builders' risk insurance at 12:30
p.m. Central time (1:30 p.m. Eastern) on Thursday, July 29.
Kirk Hansen, AAIS director of education, and Joseph Harrington,
director of corporate communications, will offer background
information on inland marine insurance in 2010 and discuss
recent developments in the important builders' risk class,
sometimes known as "course of construction" insurance.
The web seminar is one in a series offered by the Academy of
Insurance, established this year by the Insurance Journal. For
information and to register for the seminar, go to
www.ijacademy.com.
Hansen and Harrington will be offering another IJ Academy of
Insurance web seminar in November on insuring household property
under homeowners or inland marine policies.
