People and Places

The Insurance Information Institute has promoted Dr. Robert P. Hartwig to president; Dr. L. James Valverde Jr. to vice president of Economics and Risk Management; and announced the retirement of Gordon Stewart, president.

Hartwig, senior vice president and chief economist was elected executive vice president by the organization’s board of directors and will become president Jan. 1

Stewart joined the I.I.I. in July 1989 after a career in politics, business, theater, music and teaching. From 1982 to 1989, he was vice president for public affairs at the American Stock Exchange. Before joining the Exchange, Stewart served in the White House as deputy chief speechwriter to President Carter. Earlier, he was chief speechwriter and executive assistant for programs and policies to New York City Mayor John Lindsay.

Stewart focused the I.I.I.’s work on improving public understanding of insurance, primarily through the global media, and increasingly through the organization’s commanding position on the Internet and its strengthened research and analytic capabilities.

Hartwig came to the I.I.I. in 1998 as a vice president and economist. In 1999 he was promoted to chief economist, and in 2002 he became senior vice president and chief economist. Hartwig previously served as director of economic research and senior economist with the National Council on Compensation Insurance in Boca Raton, Fla. He has also worked as senior economist for the Swiss Reinsurance Group in New York and as senior statistician for the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington, D.C.

Valverde joined the I.I.I. in August 2005 as director of Economics and Risk Management, focusing on several topics where risk and uncertainty are pervasive and problematic concerns, including enterprise risk management, global climate change and extreme weather, natural catastrophesandterrorism.

In recent years, Valverde has held senior executive positions in several international consulting firms, working extensively with senior-level decision-makers in the energy, financial services, insurance and pharmaceutical industries, on a broad array of strategic and operational issues.

The Hylant Group, a commercial insurance brokerage headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, announced that Len Dyer has been hired as president to head the newly established office in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Dyer comes to Hylant Group after having successfully initiated two start-up insurance operations in the greater Grand Rapids area over the past several years. Most recently, Dyer was executive vice president and West Michigan branch manager of A.J. Gallagher of Western Michigan, where he was responsible for building the Risk Management Division for Gallagher of Michigan statewide.

Jim Westergaard, of North Fond du Lac, Wis., recently joined the The Phoenix Group as a commercial account representative.

An independent insurance agency with offices in Ripon, Clintonville, Fond du Lac, Oconto Falls and Wautoma, The Phoenix Group specializes in commercial and personal insurance, as well as employee benefits.

Operating out of The Phoenix Group’s Fond du Lac office, Westergaard works closely with large and small businesses to design insurance policies that exactly match specific needs and risk exposures.

Sun Prairie, Wisc.-based General Casualty Insurance Cos. named Jim Blair senior vice president of the company’s claims department, replacing Don Suominen who retired in March.

Blair has more than 30 years of claims experience and has been with General Casualty for 25 years. He’s been an assistant vice president since 1991, overseeing the company’s claims operations since 2002.

Schaumburg, Ill.-based Zurich announced that Charles (Chuck) Adamczyk and Marcy Croyle have joined its accident and health group as business development manager and sales account executive, respectively.

Adamczyk and Croyle will report to Ken Jacobs, vice president, Sales and Marketing for Zurich’s accident and health group. Both are based in Zurich’s office in Independence, Ohio.

Adamczyk will serve as a regional resource working with distributors and employers in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. In this role, he will help develop corporate accident insurance options, such as basic accidental death and dismemberment, voluntary AD&D, travel accident and Zurich Travel Assist, is a program of emergency support and services for organizations including Fortune 1000 companies.

Adamczyk has worked with such companies as CIGNA and MetLife, and was most recently vice president, employee benefits at Hylant Group.

Croyle will be responsible for marketing Zurich’s suite of corporate accident insurance coverages to brokers in Kentucky, western New York, Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Croyle has more than 12 years of experience in the insurance industry, most recently as an account manager for Sun Life Financial. She has also been regional sales manager for several PPO networks in northeastern Ohio.

FleetRisk Advisors, a provider of predictive analytics and loss control services to the fleet transportation industry, has appointed David C. Wagner president and chief operating officer.

Wagner previously worked at FleetRisk Advisors from 2004 to 2005 as senior vice president, Field Operations. Wagner possesses more than 20 years experience in the technology industry with experience in advanced analytical systems for both the fleet transportation market and commercial insurance. He has held leadership positions in complex systems product development and technology sales and marketing, as well as has served as president and CEO of a provider of insurance software.

Prior to joining FleetRisk Advisors, Wagner held leadership positions in the insurance and technology industry.

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