Ex-Allstate Exec Lacher Succeeds Southwell as Kemper President, CEO

November 29, 2015

Joseph P. Lacher Jr., 46, has joined Kemper Corp. as president, chief executive officer and a member of the Kemper board of directors.

At the same time, Donald G. Southwell, who had previously announced his plans to retire, has relinquished his positions as Kemper’s chairman, president and CEO as well as his position on the board of directors. He is expected to serve as a senior advisor to the company until his retirement on May 26, 2016.

The company also announced that Robert J. Joyce is now non-executive chairman of its board of directors.

Lacher previously served in several senior executive roles in the insurance industry. In November 2009, he was named president of Allstate Protection, where he led all of the company’s property/casualty offerings serving more than 17 million American households. On July, 18, 2011, Allstate announced Lacher was leaving the company immediately. The company gave no explanation for the departure.

Prior to Allstate, Lacher spent 18 years at the Travelers Companies, most recently serving as executive vice president of Personal Lines and Select Accounts.

Unitrin Inc. adopted the Kemper name in 2011. The Kemper name was a permanent fixture in the property/casualty insurance until 2001-2002 when the insurer fell victim to a series of losses. In April 2002, Kemper sold its personal lines business to Unitrin. While the insurer kept the Kemper name on the original Kemper book of personal lines business, its other divisions operated under the Unitrin name until 2011 when they all switched over to the Kemper name.

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