NAMIC Honors 5 P/C Executives with Service Awards

September 24, 2014

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies recognized five individuals today for their service to the property/casualty insurance industry.

Receiving the NAMIC Service Award at the association’s 119th Annual Convention in National Harbor, Md., were Jack Armstrong, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.; Normand Lafreniere, Canadian Association of Mutual Insurance Companies; Art Meadows, Panhandle Farmers Mutual Insurance Co.; Carlos Rodrigues, North Waterloo Farmers Mutual Insurance Co.; and Robert Wadsworth, Preferred Mutual Insurance Co.

Armstrong is the assistant vice president and senior regulatory counsel for Liberty Mutual in Boston, Mass. He has worked in the company’s legal/public affairs group since 1995 and was appointed to his current position in 1999. He is responsible for state, federal, and international insurance regulatory matters, including the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. He also supports policy development on policy issues such as group supervision and catastrophe issues including the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. He serves on the sponsors committees at RAND Corp. and Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center.

Lafreniere joined CAMIC as its president in 1993, after a long and successful career with the Canadian federal government. The association, located in Ottawa, provides information, research, and advocacy to its members and negotiates supply agreements. Most recently, Lafreniere and CAMIC representatives have been working with developing countries to put in place a mutual business model. During the past 20 years, Lafreniere, mutual insurers, and the association have been working together to improve their competitive position within the Canadian insurance industry while maintaining and expanding upon their mutual values.

Meadows is the president/CEO of the Moundsville, W.Va.,-based Panhandle Farmers Mutual Insurance Co., a position he has held since 2004. He has worked with the company since 1999 in various capacities, including vice president and board member. During his tenure, Meadows has directed the company into a technological operation that includes a paperless system, agency online quoting system, website functions, electronic mortgagee notification, and a Web-based insurance operating system. Under his direction, Meadows lowered the company’s operating expense by 35 percent and increased policyholder surplus by 650 percent in the span of five years.

Rodrigues, president/CEO of the Ontario-based Waterloo Farmers Mutual Insurance Co., has been in the property/casualty insurance industry for more than 40 years, training first in underwriting before management. He obtained his Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional educational designation and is a certified management accountant. He is a member of the board of directors of the Insurance Institute of Ontario and the advisory board of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

Wadsworth is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Preferred Mutual Insurance Co. in New Berlin, N.Y., a company where he has dedicated his entire career. He served as NAMIC’s chairman in 2005-2006 and has worked with many other industry and community organizations, including the American Association of Insurance Services, the New York Insurance Association, Excess Reinsurance Co., and the Southern Tier Regional Advisory Board for NBT Bank Society of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters.

Source: NAMIC

Topics Market Property Casualty Canada

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