Beacon Mutual search

The Beacon Mutual Insurance Company board of directors has retained the executive search firm Witt/Kieffer to conduct a nationwide search for a chief executive officer for the workers’ compensation insurer.

“We would like to have a new CEO engaged by the end of the year but this process will not be driven by a deadline,” said Carl Hayes, chairman of Beacon’s board.

Hayes vowed that the search process would be objective and thorough. “The Beacon Mutual Insurance Company needs a CEO who can move the company forward. The search process will not be driven by favoritism and no particular candidate has the inside track on the post,” he maintained.

Last April, the board fired its then-CEO, Joseph Solomon, and its vice president of underwriting, David Clark, following the release of a report that alleged that Beacon management participated in a scheme of favoritism in pricing for certain agents and accounts, some of them with ties to directors and management. Clifford Parent, the vice president of claims, was named interim president. The former chairman of the board, Sheldon Sollosy, also left the company late last year when an anonymous tipster raised questions about his company’s own workers’ compensation account.

Gov. Donald Carcieri has been waging a campaign to replace management and the board of the company but two board members he wants out have refused to resign.