People and Places

Appleton, Wis.-based mutual SECURA Insurance announced that its board of directors voted John Bykowski its new chairman. Bykowski brings more than 30 years of property/casualty industry experience to SECURA. He has served on National Association of Independent Insurers’ Executive Marketing Committee and currently serves on the board of directors for National Association of Mutual Insurance Cos.

From 1972 to 1979, Bykowski held underwriting management positions at Milwaukee Mutual and Allstate Insurance. He served as vice president of casualty operations at Wisconsin Employers Group from 1979 to 1983. From 1983 to 1997, Bykowski served as senior vice president of marketing at West Bend Mutual in West Bend, Wis.

In January 1997, Bykowski was named President and CEO of SECURA, which has 390 agencies throughout the Midwest.

Cincinnati-based insurer Great American Insurance Group has promoted Keith A. Jensen to executive vice president. Prior to this promotion, Jensen was senior vice president and CFO of the company.
In his new role, Jensen continues to serve as CFO and assumes responsibility for corporate services and the specialty financial group. The operating units of the specialty financial group include fidelity and surety bond business, insurance risk management programs for lending and leasing institutions and foreign credit insurance.

Jensen was named a senior vice president of American Financial Group, Great American’s parent, in February 1999. At AFG, he is principally involved in acquisitions, capital transactions, corporate development and investor relations. In addition, Jensen serves as executive vice president of Great American Financial Resources Inc., an 82 percent-owned subsidiary of AFG.

The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America‘s board of state directors has nominated William G. Stiglitz III as the association’s president-elect and has elected Alex Soto as the association’s next vice president.

Stiglitz will assume his new office at the 2004 convention in Orlando this October. Soto will move up to the vice president position at the same meeting. Stiglitz and current IIABA President-Elect Thomas A. Grau will be sworn in as president-elect and president, respectively, during the convention’s closing general session. Stiglitz, currently IIABA vice president, is an account executive with the firm of Hyland, Block & Hyland Inc., in Louisville, Ky. He was elected to the Executive Committee in October 2000.

Soto also has been active in IIABA nationally and in the Florida Association of Independent Agents (FAIA) during his 31-year career as an independent insurance agent. He is a past chairman of the FAIA and also a past state national director. Nationally, he has served as chairman of the IIABA Communications Committee, Branding Task Force and other committees.

Worcester, Mass.-based insurer Allmerica Financial Corp. announced that Mark D. Brissman has been appointed vice president and chief actuary of its lead companies, Citizens Insurance Company of America and the Hanover Insurance Co. In this capacity, he will play an important role in the development of product and pricing strategies and will be responsible for all reserving and reinsurance activities. Brissman also will serve as a member of the company’s Operating Committee.

Brissman comes to Allmerica from CNA, where he served in a number of senior level roles, most recently as vice president and actuary in the company’s commercial lines division. He also served as senior actuarial and underwriting officer in CNA’s personal lines division. Prior to joining CNA, Brissman was president of Landmark Insurance Co., an excess and surplus lines insurance subsidiary of AIG. From 1994 through 1998, he served as vice president and chief actuary of the Gainsco Cos. in Texas.

Chicago-based commercial lines insurer CNA announced that its CFO, Robert V. Deutsch, will step down once a replacement is found. CNA reported a first-quarter loss of $125 million due to the sale of its life insurance benefits unit.

Deutsch joined the carrier, the fourth-largest commercial lines insurer in the country, in 1999 and is reported to be retiring for family reasons. His family lives in Hartford, Conn.

Residual auto insurance market services provider AIPSO has named Errol Horne as the new manager of its North Central region, which includes the Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota auto insurance plans. Horne, who will replace the retiring James P. Kelly, already manages the Midwest region.

AIPSO’s North Central region is headquartered in Maple Grove, Minn., but Horne will work from an office in Chicago, responsible for day-to-day operations and administration of the plans.

The plans are assignment mechanisms that provide auto insurance coverage for motorists and businesses unable to obtain it through the voluntary insurance market. Horne joined AIPSO, which is based in Johnston, R.I., in 1992 as a member of its New Jersey regional staff. In 2001, Horne was promoted to the position of assistant regional manager for AIPSO’s Midwest and North Central regional offices.

ACE USA announced the appointment of Lawrence Cook as vice president of ACE Captive Solutions.

Cook will have responsibility for delivering a menu of services and products through alternative market specialists, including brokers, consultants, reinsurance brokers, captive managers, attorneys and others, according to a company statement. He will also assist in the development of new products and in managing relationships with customers and producers. Cook will be based in New York City and will report to Bob Davis, senior vice president of ACE Captive Solutions.