The Herd: New hires and promotions for 10.21.09

This is our new feature, The Herd, where we let you know who’s taking a new job where. Please send HR notices in the body of the email to TheHerd@richmondbizsense.com. Please do not send PDF attachments.

Real Estate
John R. Hauserman has joined Grubb & Ellis|Harrison & Bates as an associate specializing in retail and land commercial real estate brokerage. Hauserman has a B.S. from VCU in business and real estate development.

Legal
Neil E. McCullagh has joined Spotts Fain’s Richmond office as Of Counsel to the firm and a member of the Creditors’ Rights, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Section. McCullagh is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law (1995) and of Radford University (1991).

Kevin D. Holden has joined the law firm of Jackson Lewis as a partner. Previously, Holden led the employment law practice group at the Richmond office of Kaufman & Canoles. Holden has a bachelor’s degree and law degree from Indiana University.

Thomas R. Frantz, the president and chief operating officer at the law firm Williams Mullen will become Chief Executive Officer on Feb. 1. Julious “Joey” P. Smith, Jr. will remain in the position of Chairman and James V. Meath will remain in the position of Vice Chairman. Frantz has both an undergraduate and law degree from The College of William and Mary. Frantz was elected president and chief operating officer of Williams Mullen in 2004.

Small Business:

Jeff Collins has been named a senior account manager at Sklar Technology Partners.

Lauren Nardone has been hired as vice president of marketing for Sklar Technology Partners. Previously, she worked in marketing at Philip Morris USA and The Martin Agency.

David Rayner has become a partner at TBL Networks.

Travis Witmer has joined GroundWork Design as director of special projects.

Other
Peter J. Regan has been named director of sales & marketing at The Wyndham Virginia Crossings Hotel & Conference Center.

Elephant Insurance (a new insurance company based here) has a host of new hires:

Eight Insurance Sales Representatives:
Kevin Jackson
John Mobley
Shelia Calloway
Kevin Calhoun
Kelley Harrell
Cynthia Sykes
Tristan Lipscomb
Nicole Lester

Briana Boyer-Call Center Supervisor
Cindy Twitchell-Quality Assurance Analyst
Chip Howard- Claims Associate
Cindy Grebas-Accounting Associate
Jack Reichner-Accounting Associate
Bill Mensch-Help Desk Analyst
Arun Bose-Graphic Artist

Aaron Kremer is the BizSense Editor. Please send news tips to Editor@richmondbizsense.com.

Insurance slugfest with accusations of espionage

A Richmond-based insurance company thinks its former CEO went rogue and broke his contract when he left to start a competing firm. The company wants its day in court and an injunction against the upstart.

The startup, meanwhile, says it followed all non-compete clauses and that it’s  ploy to drown it in legal fees before it can launch successfully.

For six years, Mike Kehoe was the boss at James River Insurance. He helped get the company going in 2002 and helped it grow. He also helped sell it for $575 million in 2007, pocketing $6.4 million in stock options and bonuses, according to the lawsuit. Read more