Insurance Information Institute Enhances Its Communications Team

NEW YORK, Jan. 28 -- The Insurance Information Institute issued the following news release:

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- Ruiz to Cover the West Coast While Holeman to Be Based in The Midwest

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The Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) has appointed two new full-time employees who together bring 50 years of experience in consumer education, media relations, public affairs and strategic communications to the organization.

Janet Ruiz, an I.I.I. consultant for the past four years, is now the I.I.I.'s Director of Strategic Communication, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She will continue to work closely with California-based media, insurance companies and regulators on behalf of the I.I.I.

Ruiz previously worked at Fireman's Fund and State Farm in California, where she held positions in strategic communications and underwriting. She has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey and earned a chartered property and casualty underwriter (CPCU) designation and an associate in management (AIM) designation from the Insurance Institute of America.

Scott Holeman joins the I.I.I. as Director of Media Relations. He will be responsible for working closely with national media to address emerging insurance issues and will serve as a spokesman on topics such as commercial insurance, disaster preparedness, innovation and cybersecurity.

Prior to joining the I.I.I., Holeman was the Communications Director for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. He also has worked in the roles of news director, anchor and reporter for television stations in Kansas and Missouri. Additionally, Holeman served as Communications Director for the Insurance Commissioner, Speaker of the House, and the Department of Revenue in Kansas. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Indiana University. Holeman is based in Kansas City, Missouri.

"We're extremely pleased to add depth and breadth to our already strong bench of talent serving the nation's insurance consumers and our members," said Sean Kevelighan, chief executive officer, I.I.I. "I am confident Janet and Scott will enhance our important work as the leading independent source of objective insurance information."

In other news related to its communications team, Lynne McChristian, the I.I.I.'s Florida-based communications consultant since 2008, has moved to Illinois. McChristian is now the director of the Office of Risk Management & Insurance Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she is also a senior instructor teaching insurance and enterprise risk management classes. She will continue to serve as an I.I.I. spokesperson and a non-resident scholar.