Corporate report

SARASOTA-MANATEE
Firm teams up with insurance giant
Progressive Employer Management Co., which handles payroll, workers' compensation, employee benefits and human resource services for a variety of businesses, has partnered with Zurich Insurance Group.

The partnership, according to a statement, will allow Progressive Employer Management to offer Zurich's workers' compensation products to clients. The firm's current and new clients transitioned to the new carrier as of Oct. 1.

In addition to the partnership with Zurich, PEMCO also named Linda Smiley risk operations manager and Shelley Drost a risk operations specialist.
Progressive Employer Management has 10 office locations in Florida and Texas.

Bradenton company expands west
Next Level Administrators, a Bradenton-based workers' compensation claims administration firm, has opened an office in Dallas.

The office, according to a statement, will be a local presence to clients and vendors in the area, including carriers, program managers and self-insured employers.
“Opening an office in Dallas is part of our strategy to help clients significantly improve operational profitability as well as improve claim costs results,” says Next Level Administrators President Andrew Olwert in the statement.

The office will be led by Andrew Price, who has more than 28 years' experience in claims adjusting, supervision, management and risk management. His past employment includes working for the Texas Legislature and the Texas Division of Workers' Compensation, a third party administrator, the release states. He's also worked as a risk manager for a Professional Employer Organization (PEO.)

TAMPA BAY
Prominent broker joins rival organization
Whitney Knoll has joined Crossman & Co., where he will lead institutional investment sales efforts, leasing and property management for the commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Knoll joins the firm from rival Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's Capital Group, where he was a senior managing director and focused on Southeast capital markets.

Knoll has worked in the commercial real estate industry for four decades, and has collectively been the senior or lead broker on more than 260 sales transactions totaling 39 million square feet and valued at $3.5 billion.

“I look forward to adding value to our clients and portfolio,” Knoll says in a statement. “My philosophy is aligned with Crossman & Co.'s — focus on your clients' best interest, work hard and do the right thing every day.”

Knoll is licensed to sell real estate in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.

In addition to his experience with Newmark Grubb, Knoll also worked for the Trammell Crow Co. and Staubach Cos., where he was executive vice president of the company's retail capital markets group and senior managing director of capital markets, respectively.

Crossman operates in seven states from offices in Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Boca Raton and Atlanta, and currently manages more than 27 million square feet of space.

COLLIER-LEE
Bank expansion continues with new executive
Sanibel Captiva Community Bank named Lee Golden director of retail operations and a senior vice president.

In that role he will oversee the opening of Sanibel Captiva's new downtown Fort Myers branch early next year in the Edison Theatre building, at 1533 Hendry St.

“His reputation precedes him as an experienced, dedicated banking professional and we look forward to working with him as we bring community banking back to downtown Fort Myers,” says Sanibel Captiva Community Bank President Craig Albert in a statement.

Golden has more than two decades of banking experience in Southwest Florida, involving the growth of retail bank and deposit operations as well as loan products. In addition to his banking work, Golden is a member of the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce's board and the Edison & Ford Winter Estates' board of trustees. He also was a past board president of the Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida.

Founded in 2003, Sanibel Captiva has $332 million in assets and operates five branches currently in Sanibel and Fort Myers.