Dan Carmichael

William Granato

Brandon Hickey

Ohio Casualty Corporation has completed a new five-year agreement with its current president and chief executive officer, Dan R. Carmichael. The prior contract with Carmichael was to expire on Dec. 31, 2005. Carmichael joined Ohio Casualty Corporation in December, 2000. From 1995 until his employment with Ohio Casualty, he served as president and chief executive officer of IVANS, Inc., Greenwich, Conn., an industry organization that provides electronic communications services to insurance, health care and related organizations. Prior to his tenure at IVANS, he served eight years as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Anthem Casualty Insurance Group (Shelby Insurance and Anthem Casualty).

Ohio Casualty Corporation is the holding company of The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, which is one of six companies that make up Ohio Casualty Group. The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company is licensed in 49 states.

RLI Corp. has promoted Seth Davis to RLI vice president, internal audit, effective Dec. 1. Davis will report to RLI President and CEO Jonathan E. Michael and have a direct reporting relationship to the audit committee of the RLI board of directors. Davis’ responsibilities will include overseeing all of the company’s internal audit activities. Davis joined RLI in 2004 as manager, internal audit. Prior to that, he served as an internal audit director for CNA in Chicago, and in various claims and underwriting positions with State Farm in Bloomington, Ill., and in the Chicago area. RLI, based in Peoria, Ill., offers property and casualty coverages and surety bonds serving niche or underserved markets.

Susan Doyle has been promoted to executive vice president and general manager for field operations for Wisconsin-based Wausau Insurance. Doyle will have oversight responsibility for all Wausau divisions and Wausau Signature Agency. She will continue to be based in the company’s Downers Grove, Ill. office.

Prior to joining Wausau, Doyle held senior executive positions with Arch Insurance Group in Houston, Kemper Casualty Company in New York, and CIGNA / ACE in Philadelphia. She has more than 25 years of experience in property and casualty insurance, all working with agents and brokers.

A replacement will be named soon to fill Doyle’s former position as senior vice president and general manager for the National Broker Division, which handles accounts with Marsh, Aon and Willis brokerages.

Harleysville Insurance named the leaders of its new regional field organization, which realigns the company’s existing network of field offices into four geographic zones.

The appointments include: William D. Granato, Midwest regional president; Brandon J. Hickey, Mid-Atlantic regional president; Clinton Bothwell, Southeast regional president; and Dennis J. Otmaskin, Northeast regional president.

Thomas E. Clark is senior vice president of field operations. Clark noted that the regional presidents would initially focus their efforts on optimizing the company’s field structure and allocating staff resources within the regions. Clark said Harleysville would maintain its local presence in its existing markets, while adding offices in the Atlanta and Chicago areas, where he said the company sees “significant opportunity to grow profitably.”

Granato, regional president for the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin) most recently was with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., where he was chief operating officer for the international insurance brokerage company’s Chicago office. Prior to that, he was executive vice president of Fremont Compensation Insurance Company’s east region.

Hickey is the regional president for the Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia). Before joining Harleysville, he was regional vice president of The Hartford’s Washington D.C. office.

Otmaskin, regional president for Northeast (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont) came to Harleysville in 1998 as president and chief operating officer of Harleysville Insurance Company in Minnesota. In 2000, he was named president and chief operating officer of Harleysville Worcester Insurance Company and Harleysville Insurance Company of New York.

Bothwell, regional president for the Southeast (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee), joined Harleysville in 2000 as the underwriting manager of the company’s Greensboro, N.C., branch. In 2002, he was elected vice president of Harleysville’s home office loss control organization.

Katie Freeman Insurance Services in San Diego has announced Ben Erdmanis has joined as an account executive in the Warrenville, Ill., brokerage office. Erdmanis worked at Atlantic Specialty Lines – Midwest and was formerly an account executive/junior broker at Euclid Managers in Elmhurst, Ill.

Jeff Simonds recently joined AVRECO to become assistant vice president of AVRECO’s Healthcare Division. He is focusing on the expansion of AVRECO’s national presence in the medical professional liability marketplace. Simonds has 20 years experience in the insurance industry, the last seven of which have been spent in the field of medical malpractice. Prior to joining AVRECO, Simonds worked as a medical malpractice risk consultant for Behnke & Company, based out of Decatur, Ill.

GAB Robins, an international claims services firm, has named Alan N. Mansfield executive vice president and chief financial officer of the GAB Robins Group of Companies. Mansfield, who will be based at GAB Robins’ headquarters in Parsippany, N.J., will be responsible for the financial management of the GAB Robins Group of Companies globally. Before joining GAB Robins, Mansfield was with ESIS, a risk management services company that is part of ACE USA. He began his career in 1980 with Coopers & Lybrand.