Harleysville Elects Directors; Names Chandler as CFO

April 28, 2005

The shareholders of Harleysville Group Inc. and the policyholders of Harleysville Mutual Insurance Company, the owner of 56 percent of the shares of Harleysville Group, have re-elected three members to each of their respective boards of directors, and announced the retirement of one of their directors.

W. Thacher Brown, Mirian M. Graddick-Weir and William W. Scranton III have been re-elected to three-year terms on the Harleysville Group board, while Scranton, Michael L. Lapeyrouse and William E. Storts were re-elected to three-year terms on the Harleysville Mutual board. The terms of Joseph E. McMenamin, a director for both companies, expired at the 2005 annual meeting and he did not stand for re-election because he had reached the companies’ mandatory retirement age of 72 prior to the annual meeting.

Brown was elected a director of Harleysville Group in 2002 and Harleysville Mutual in 1994. He had been president of 1838 Investment Advisors, LLC, until his retirement in 2004. He also was president of MBIA Asset Management LLC and a director of MBIA Insurance Company Inc. until 2004. He is a director of 1838 Bond Debenture Fund, 1838 Funds and Airgas, Inc.

Graddick-Weir is executive vice president of human resources for AT&T Corp. She has held various executive positions with AT&T since joining the company in 1981. Graddick-Weir has been a Harleysville Group director since 2000.

Scranton was named non-executive chairman of the board of Harleysville Group and Harleysville Mutual in 2004. He was elected a director of Harleysville Group in 2004 and Harleysville Mutual in 1999. Scranton is a former lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania and currently manages the Scranton Family Office.

Lapeyrouse is chief executive officer of The American Equity Underwriters, Inc. Lapeyrouse joined American Equity Underwriters’ parent company, Cooper/T. Smith Group, in 1982. He was elected a director of Harleysville Mutual in 2002.

Storts was elected a director of Harleysville Mutual in 2001. He retired as a managing partner of Accenture Consulting Global Financial Services in 2000.

McMenamin started as a director of Harleysville Mutual and Harleysville Group in 1999. He is the former president and chief operating officer of Keystone Insurance Companies. He also served as a member of the Keystone board prior to joining the Harleysville boards.

Harleysville Group Inc. also announced the appointment of Arthur E. Chandler as senior vice president and chief financial officer. In this position, he will direct the organization’s corporate accounting and financial reporting functions. He will report to Michael L. Browne, Harleysville Group’s president and chief executive officer.

Most recently, Chandler was senior vice president of financial controls for XL America. Prior to that, he was chief financial officer for Kemper Insurance’s casualty division. He also spent nearly 20 years with CIGNA in various finance positions. In total, he has 25 years of financial experience in the insurance industry.

Harleysville Insurance ranks among the top 60 U.S. property/casualty insurance groups based on net written premiums. Harleysville distributes its products exclusively through independent insurance agencies in 32 eastern and Midwestern states. Further information can be found on the company’s Web site at http://www.harleysvillegroup.com/.

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