People on the Move

DUANE MESZLER has joined Preferred Mutual as a personal-lines underwriting manager. He will be responsible for managing the firm’s New York and New Jersey underwriting teams. Meszler brings more than 17 years of experience in the insurance industry. He previously worked as a manager of MBP underwriting and administration for a Midwestern insurance carrier. Prior […]

Firley, Moran, Freer & Eassa, CPA, P.C. has promoted RICHARD SMITH and NICOLE WOODALL to principal. Smith joined the firm in July 2015 and has dedicated more than 15 years to the public accounting profession gaining tax experience with Deloitte Tax and PricewaterhouseCoopers, according to his LinkedIn profile, and more than two years in Firley,

KAITLYN TOTTEN recently joined LAUNCH as a LIFE counselor. She is a graduate of Niagara University with a bachelor’s degree in criminology and criminal justice and a minor in sociology. Before joining LAUNCH, Totten lived in Florida and worked as a direct support/overnight trainer for East Coast Habilitation Options, Inc. She worked directly with individuals

AUDREY CROSS has been named project manager of support services for the Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS). Prior to joining MVHS, she worked at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield in Utica as facilities manager and was also employed as project superintendent at Hayner Hoyt Corporation in Syracuse. Cross currently serves as an adjunct professor at Utica College.

HCR Home Care has added a new employee to its Onondaga County operations. TANASIA SHAW joins the company as a home health aide.   

SCOTT A. SHATRAW, former senior VP and chief financial officer of Utica First Insurance Company in Oriskany became company president and CEO on Jan. 1. He succeeds longtime president and CEO, RICHARD J. ZICK, who will act as executive consultant to the insurer’s board of directors. Shatraw, a graduate of Le Moyne College with a