People – Midwest

Westfield, Ohio-based banking and insurance organization, Westfield Group, has selected Edward J. Largent III to succeed James R. Clay as company leader, president and CEO.

The transition will occur July 1. Clay will remain as chairman of the board until his retirement on March 31, 2016.

Largent joined Westfield in 1986. Following a series of assignments of increasing responsibility, he was named chief technology officer for the company in 2005. In 2009, he was named chief administrative officer, and also served as president of Westfield Financial and president of Westfield Services. In 2011, he was named president of Westfield’s overall insurance operations, where he was responsible for the company’s $1.7 billion multi-line, regional property and casualty insurance and surety operation.

Clay will leave Westfield after a 35-year career with the company. During that time, he has played a role in nearly every aspect of the business, from a successful career as an insurance underwriter, to president of the insurance operation, to eventually taking the reins as CEO. He is a second generation employee of the company. His father, Lee, worked for Westfield for 33 years.

Clay is a trustee of the Property & Casualty Insurers Association of America and co-chairs the Insurance Industry Resource Council, Ohio’s workforce initiative to support the industry’s domestic carriers.

Lockton’s St. Louis, Mo., office named Jim Linden as assistant vice president-senior claims consultant in its mining risk management practice. The industry veteran will guide clients as their claims advisor and advocate.

Linden has more than 35 years of experience providing claims and risk management services for clients. Most recently, he acted as director of risk management for Patriot Coal for six years, after serving in key claims analyst roles for Midwest Employers Casualty Co. and Safety National Casualty Corp. Linden began his career with Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.

Insurance wholesaler J.M. Wilson has promoted Thomas Tobolic and Samantha Johnston to property/casualty underwriter positions in its Portage, Mich., office.

Tobolic is responsible for quoting new and renewal accounts for a wide variety of commercial property/casualty risks, as well as issuing policies and servicing accounts for independent insurance agents.

Tobolic gained valuable experience as an intern with J.M. Wilson in the personal lines department, before being hired as claims representative in 2013. He graduated from Olivet College in 2013 with a degree in Insurance and Risk Management.

Johnston will be responsible for quoting, binding and servicing property/casualty accounts for independent insurance agents.

Johnston gained experience as an intern with J.M. Wilson before being hired as a P/C assistant underwriter. Prior to that, she completed an internship with Frankenmuth Mutual in the claims department. In 2014, Samantha earned a degree in Insurance and Risk Management from Olivet College.

Advocate Reinsurance Partners LLC, a privately owned reinsurance intermediary firm based in Dallas, appointed Daniel Bilot and Jon Knutzen as partners in the firm’s new Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn., office.

The appointments further extend the firm’s capabilities and capacity to serve the reinsurance market nationwide, the company said.

Bilot joins Advocate after serving in various leadership positions spanning a 20-year career in the insurance and reinsurance marketplace. Prior to joining Advocate, he was the CEO of Capital Risk Partners Inc. He previously served as a managing director at Guy Carpenter and as property practice leader and head of analytics at Collins Associates, where he was also a member of the board of directors and executive management team.

Knutzen brings more than 15 years of experience with property reinsurance, program structuring and analytics in the production and servicing of property catastrophe exposed clients. Prior to joining Advocate, he was the property specialty practice leader for TigerRisk Partners.

He began his career with E.W. Blanch (now Aon Benfield) and later became a senior executive at both Collins Associates and Guy Carpenter.

ACE Group appointed Scott Arnold as deputy division president of Rain and Hail, a division of ACE Agriculture based in Johnston, Iowa.

Arnold was previously executive vice president of Rain and Hail field operations, where he oversaw the company’s 10 divisional offices and its distribution and business development efforts.

Arnold’s new role will include broader involvement in the day-to-day operations of the crop insurance business.

With more than 25 years’ experience in the crop insurance industry, Arnold first joined Rain and Hail in 1989 as a field supervisor, and has held roles of increasing responsibility. He joined ACE in December of 2010 with the company’s acquisition of Rain and Hail.

XL Group’s excess and surplus (E&S) insurance division is adding primary auto capabilities to its product line and has added Andrew Miller in Chicago as underwriting manager to lead this business.

Miller has more than a dozen years of transportation insurance industry experience, most recently as an underwriting manager with Vanliner Insurance Co., a division of National Interstate.

In his new role, Miller will be responsible for launching XL Group’s E&S primary auto product line.

Miller will report to Michael Gramm, vice president of excess casualty, E&S.

Three members of the Ohio Department of Insurance leadership team have been promoted.

Laura Miller, previously chief of the department’s Product Regulation and Actuarial Services Life and Health section, has been promoted to assistant director of Product Regulation and Actuarial Services.

Todd Oberholtzer, previously the department’s assistant chief counsel, now heads the department’s legal operation as chief legal counsel, and is responsible for management of its attorneys, who provide legal services to agency leadership and staff.

Dwight Radel, previously chief financial analyst in the Office of Risk Assessment, has been promoted to assistant director of Risk Assessment.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner appointed Joann Fratianni-Atsaves as the chairman of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC). She has 34 years of experience in workers’ compensation law and has previously served as both an arbitrator and a commissioner at the IWCC.

The governor also reappointed David Gore to his fourth term and Kevin Lamborn was reappointed to a third term.

Joshua Luskin was selected to serve as a public member commissioner.

Former Acting Chairman Ronald A. Rascia has resumed his role as general counsel of the commission.

On Feb. 17, the Senate confirmed Stephen Mathis as commissioner and the following arbitrator appointments: Milton Black; Maria Bocanegra; Stephen Friedman; Steven Fruth, Jessica Hegarty; David Kane; Lynette Thompson Smith; Anthony Erbacci; Robert Falcioni; Joann Fratianni and Michael Nowak.

Topics Ohio