Chad J. Berhance joined NewOak Capital as managing director and head of NewOak Solutions, a portfolio risk analytics, credit and advisory service provider to institutional investors globally.

Chad J. Berhance

Burhance also was appointed to New York, N.Y.-based NewOak Capital’s executive committee, according to the company.

In his new role, he will lead expansion of NewOak Solutions beyond complex structured securities to comprehensive quantification of the risk and return characteristics, sensitivities and stress testing of multi-asset class, multi-currency portfolios, including complex derivative instruments.

Ron D’Vari, chief executive officer and co-founder of NewOak Capital, said Berhance’s familiarity of the needs of institutions across the globe, “ will be critical in NewOak’s timely delivery of high performance services and systems to our clients.

“Chad’s background as a seasoned executive who has built and operated client-focused risk solution organizations is an ideal fit with NewOak’s efforts to expand its structured products and credit platform to a comprehensive multi-asset class portfolio risk advisory and system business,” D’Vari said in a statement.

Burhance was formerly managing director of global risk services at State Street Investment Analytics, overseeing risk and analytical services and has more than 18 years experience within the financial services industry at several major organizations including Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and UBS.

In other news:

* Kristina Baldwin rejoined the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America as assistant vice president for state government relations, responsible for activity in New York and Connecticut. Baldwin managed lobbying and public affairs in both states in her first stint with PCI.

* Jim Romanelli was appointed to Northeastern zone officer for CNA Financial Corp., responsible for aligning the branch structure of the insurer’s operations in
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

* Craig Nelson, Paul Perry and Steven Watts were appointed as brokers with Towers Watson, bringing a combined 85 years of experience to the New York firm’s retail insurance brokerage business.

* Georgiana Carney of Pearl Carroll & Associates in Latham, N.Y.; Sandra K. Lee of Harold L. Lee and Sons of New York, N.Y.; and M. Scott Wood Jr. of MetzWood Harder Insurance in Chatham, N.Y., were among the professionals recently recognized as 2010 Personal Insurance Agents of the Year by Travelers Insurance. Award recipients are specifically chosen for achieving their goals of long-term profitable growth for their agencies, dedication to high-quality customer service and for their commitment to Travelers.

* Nicholas D. Latrenta was recently named general counsel of MetLife, succeeding James L. Lipscomb, who retired in April from the post after nearly 38 years of service to the insurer.

* Tom Prior has joined the New York office of The Silverfern Group as managing director of the company’s senior merchant banking team. Prior brings more than 20 years of investment banking experience to the company, including as the former senior managing director within Deutsche Bank’s New York Financial Sponsors Group.

* Jagdish R. Dalal, F. Warren McFarlan and Nader J. Samii joined the newly formed board of advisors for ReSource Pro, a specialist in insurance process outsourcing.

* Ira E. Sorkin joined Port Washington, N.Y.-based RMI Consulting as senior consultant for the risk management consulting firm.

* Joni Dunn and Steven Wechselberger have joined the sales and production team of New York, N.Y.-based FIRE Solutions, a provider of compliance and training solutions for the financial services and insurance industries.