People

Columbus, Ohio-based Grange Insurance has promoted Alan D. Brannan to the new post of president of property/casualty for the Grange Mutual Casualty Group. In his new role, Brannan will oversee all property/casualty operations at Grange and its affiliate partner, Integrity Insurance.

Brannan was previously president of personal lines. Grange’s volume has doubled in size over the past five years. In addition, the company has grown from a seven-state area of operation to 11 states through an affiliation with Integrity Insurance of Appleton, Wis., and entry into the state of Michigan. In July of this year, Grange subsidiary Trustgard Insurance, will begin offering automobile insurance policies in South Carolina.

Brannan will now be in charge of the Grange Mutual Casualty Group’s property/casualty operations, with the presidents of commercial lines, Integrity Insurance and personal lines reporting directly to him. Brannan will continue to serve as the interim president of personal lines until a replacement can be found.

Lenore Marema joined the Surety Association of America as vice president of government affairs. Marema’s primary duties at the SAA will be to represent the common interests of surety and fidelity bond writers in federal, state and local legislative and regulatory matters. She has 25 years of experience in the property/casualty industry, largely with the Alliance of American Insurers.

Most recently, she was vice president of legal and regulatory affairs, and was the organization’s primary liaison to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, among other state and national organizations. Prior to her work at the Alliance, Marema was an assistant state attorney general in Illinois.

Timothy Moore, a lawyer with 30 years’ insurance industry experience, joined Trustmark Cos., headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., as senior vice president and general counsel. As general counsel, Moore will be responsible for managing claims litigation and all other legal, compliance, internal audit and recovery proceedings involving Trustmark and CoreSource, the company’s third-party benefits administrator.

Most recently, Moore served as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary at American Medical Security Group in Green Bay, Wis., which was recently acquired by PacifiCare. He was also partner at Katten Muchin and Zavis in Chicago, representing insurance companies in corporate and regulatory affairs. Prior to law school, Moore co-owned a property/casualty insurance adjusting business.

Lockton Insurance Brokers, based in Kansas City, Mo., named Kathy Hinz, vice president and account executive for Lockton’s technology group. She will be based in Lockton’s San Jose office in California.

Hinz has been in the insurance industry for more than 24 years, including four years as a casualty underwriter and 20 years as vice president, client executive/advisor and team leader with two other national brokerage firms. For the past nine years, she managed and serviced a large group of technology clients. Hinz will be responsible for managing client service for Lockton’s technology group, which compliments the company’s operations in Northern California and employs more than 1,700 associates in 15 offices throughout the United States.

Since its inception in 1966, Lockton has grown to become the largest independently owned insurance broker in the U.S. with clients in more than 125 countries. Lockton’s San Francisco office opened in March 2003.

John B. Collins and Associates Inc. named John Daum vice president of their New York office. In his new role, Daum will be responsible for establishing new reinsurance brokerage client relationships as well as serving the needs of existing clients. He brings 25 years of insurance and reinsurance experience to the company beginning his career in London before joining General Reinsurance Corp., later joining E.W. Blanch. Daum most recently served with US Re.

Michigan-based Kelter-Alliant announced the appointment of Ted Maitland as vice president of its employee benefits service. Maitland joins the firm with experience managing national accounts for group health and welfare plans, as well as retirement plans for small, midsize, and large institutional employers. He will be responsible for servicing Kelter-Alliant’s existing clientele, as well as growing its employee benefit practice.

Argonaut Group Inc., based in San Antonio, Texas, named John Gribbin president of its risk management segment, replacing John Gantz. Gribbin most recently assumed the responsibilities of chief underwriting officer for risk management, having also held executive leadership positions as regional vice president in Eastern and New York Regions.

ACE Ltd., headquartered in Bermuda, appointed Julie Schaekel, senior vice president of financial reporting for ACE USA to chief auditor for the ACE Group of Cos. She has 20 years of property and casualty auditing and financial reporting experience. Schaekel joined ACE in 1998 as an assistant vice president of audit. Her background includes approximately 12 years of experience with Lincoln National, where she held a number of auditing assignments. Schaekel replaces Jeanette Hughes.

MassMutual Financial Group in Springfield, Mass., appointed Stuart Reese as chief executive officer and president, and James Birle as nonexecutive chairman of the company’s board of directors following a notice of termination to Robert O’Connell as chairman and chief executive officer. The company offered no details of why O’Connell, who joined MassMutual in 1998 from American International Group, was suddenly terminated.

Reese is a 12-year veteran of MassMutual Financial Group who has served as executive vice president and chief investment officer since 1999. In that capacity, he was responsible for the management of the company’s general account and was a key advisor on the company’s overall business strategy.

He has also held various leadership positions at several of MassMutual’s subsidiaries, serving as chairman of and CEO of Babson Capital Management, chairman of the Antares Capital Corporation, chairman of Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers Inc., and as a member of the board of directors of Oppenheimer Acquisition Corp.

Before joining MassMutual in 1993, he was vice president and managing director for capital markets for Aetna Life and Casualty where he oversaw the management of all external funds.

William Ledbetter Jr. will serve as an employer commissioner of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission as confirmed by the Texas Senate. He was appointed to the Commission in April 2004. Ledbetter is director of human resources for Justin Brands Inc., a multiplant, multistate footwear manufacturing company with about 1,000 employees.

The commission’s board is composed of six members, three representing employees and three representing employers, who are appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry with the advice and consent of the senate. The primary role is to set policy, adopt rules that enforce the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act and related statues, and implement legislation.

The PMI Group Inc. promoted Thomas Jeter to vice president and corporate controller. Jeter joined PMI in 2002. As corporate controller, Jeter is the chief accounting officer responsible for all accounting functions within the company, including U.S. GAAP policy and SEC and statutory reporting, as well as tax planning and compliance. Prior to joining PMI, Jeter was with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where he was a senior manager in the financial services division. In addition to his public accounting experience, Jeter worked for two years at Provident Funding in the finance and accounting department.

The Main Street America Group appointed Robert Restrepo Jr. as senior vice president of insurance operations. Restrepo will oversee the company’s commercial lines, personal lines, claims, information technology and staff marketing functions.

Most recently, Restrepo was president and CEO of Allmerica Property and Casualty Cos., a subsidiary of Allmerica Financial Corp., an insurance and financial services holding company based in Worcester, Mass. While at Allmerica, Restrepo was responsible for day-to-day management of a $2.3 billion business that included a portfolio of insurance products distributed through more than 2,000 agents and brokers in 22 states. He also led the restructuring of Allmerica’s two regional property/casualty carriers, Citizens Insurance and Hanover Insurance.

To submit information for this department, e-mail: koreilly@insurancejournal.com.

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