People Moves: TrueNorth Announces Next Step of Leadership Succession Plan; Holmes Murphy Promotes 3
TrueNorth Announces Next Phase of Leadership Succession Plan Effective January 2023
TrueNorth Companies, L.C., a closely and privately held risk management and insurance brokerage firm headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has announced a series of leadership changes. Several officer appointments are taking effect in January:
- Matt Rathje, senior vice president of client operations, will now assume the role of chief operations officer.
- Chad Thurm, senior vice president of transportation, has been appointed chief financial officer.
- Bill Teubel, former CFO, will remain on the board as senior strategy officer.
- Max Smith has transitioned from Executive Vice President of Risk Management to chief commercial officer.
Other internal promotions include:
- Assistant General Counsel, Robynn Westphal, has been promoted to general counsel
- Senior Vice President of Risk Management Stu Haker is assuming Max Smith’s former role as executive vice president of risk management.
- Transportation Principal & Practice Leader, Bill Zenk, has been appointed executive vice president of risk and workforce solutions.
- Transportation Principal & Practice Leader, Chris Gulker, has been promoted to senior vice president of transportation.
- Director of Client Services Andrew Mills has been promoted to vice president of operations of risk & workforce solutions.
- Manager of Strategic Initiatives, Garrett Shekleton, has been promoted to vice president of operations of risk management.
Holmes Murphy Announces Promotions to Key Leadership Positions
Holmes Murphy has appointed key leaders into several major roles throughout the Holmes Murphy enterprise.
Jay Freiermuth, Stephani Manning, and Lauren Roth have been appointed to Holmes Murphy’s board of managers. Freiermuth has been with Holmes Murphy since 1997, most recently serving as a senior vice president in the surety space. Manning and Roth both have over a decade of experience at Holmes Murphy. Manning has previously held several pivotal roles with innovative captive strategies and has also been named president of innovative captive strategies. Roth was most recently named president of Avant Specialty Benefits.
Other promotions and appointments include:
- Kari Cooling has been named to Holmes Murphy’s executive committee. Cooling has held several key leadership positions in her nearly 20-year span with the company and was named senior vice president and managing director of brokerage services in 2022. Cooling is the third next-generation leader to join the executive committee.
- Tom Stewart has also been named president of Holmes Murphy’s PLUS division, which contains six subsidiary companies — ACAP HealthWorks, Avant Specialty Benefits, Charlesworth Consulting, Creative Risk Solutions, ethOs, and Innovative Captive Strategies. Stewart has been with Holmes Murphy since 2003.
- Stephanie Leuck and Chris Fischer will advance their leadership roles in Holmes Murphy’s Cedar Rapids market, where Leuck will serve as Market Leader and Fischer will serve as property casualty sales leader. Both Leuck and Fischer have been with Holmes Murphy for 20 years.
