People and Places
Sidney R. Ferenc and Steven M. Menzies were recently elected to new management positions by the board of directors of San Francisco-based Applied Underwriters.
Ferenc assumes the position of chairman of the Board while continuing in his capacity of chief executive officer.
The board approved the appointment of Menzies as president. He will also continue in his position as chief operating officer.
Ferenc and Menzies founded Applied Underwriters in 1994. Applied provides workers’ compensation and financial services to businesses across the United States through the system of independent property/casualty agents.
Mack and Parker Inc., the Chicago hub of insurance brokerage Hub International Ltd., has announced that Chris Martin has been appointed sales manager of the professional liability department. Martin will oversee the building of the practice group for lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers, software designers and surveyors in the Chicago hub. In his new role, he is responsible for supporting and driving the sales culture, recruiting new sales talent and managing relationships with key insurance carriers.
Martin will continue to be a producer as he takes on the duties of sales manager. He began his insurance career with JP Flanagan Corp. in 1998. Hub International acquired JP Flanagan in 2001, and its operations merged with Hub’s Chicago hub, Mack and Parker, in January 2002.
Gwen Seeboth has been promoted to director of customer relations at Sheboygan, Wis.-based property/casualty insurer ACUITY. She has served as a personal lines underwriter since October 1998 and has chaired ACUITY’s employee activity committee over the past few years and will continue in this role. Prior to joining ACUITY, Seeboth served as news director and radio personality for WKTT. ACUITY operates in 12 Midwestern states.
Columbus, Ohio-based medical liability insurer OHIC Insurance Co. named former health-care administrator Bill Ruse to its board of directors. Ruse retired as president of the Blanchard Valley Health Association in 2001 after serving 36 years as its president and CEO. During his tenure at Blanchard Valley, it grew from a single hospital in Findlay, Ohio, to acute care facilities in Findlay and Bluffton and 25 percent ownership of a Lima hospital. Ruse is serving a second term on the OHIC board.
East Lansing, Mich.-based medical liability insurer American Physicians Capital Inc. announced the re-election of a current director and the election of three new directors to its board. Dr. Thomas R. Berglund, a current director, was re-elected, and new directors Daniel L. Gorman and D. Joseph Olson were elected with terms expiring in 2007. R. Kevin Clinton, president and CEO of APCapital, was also elected as a new director with a term expiring in 2006. APCapital is a regional provider of medical professional liability insurance focused primarily in the Midwest markets through American Physicians Assurance Corp. and its other subsidiaries.
Wayne Morgan of St. Joseph, Mo., was installed as president of the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents during the association’s annual convention in Osage Beach, Mo. Morgan is managing partner of Tilton Thomas & Morgan in St. Joseph.
Other association officers installed at the convention were: Richard V. Minor of Insurance Services, Hannibal, as president-elect; R. Alan Hedrick of County Wide Insurance and Real Estate, as vice president; Mollie Wells of the Wells Insurance Group, as secretary/treasurer; Mitchell Mills of Mills & Sons, as past president; Richard E. Clift of Bowersox Insurance Agency Co., as IIABA state national director; and Carrol L. Hess of Jackson Insurance Agency, as PIA national director.
MAIA’s next convention will be held July 14-16, 2005, at the Chateau on the Lake in Branson, Mo. Founded in 1899, MAIA represents some 4,000 independent agents, brokers and their employees.
Cincinnati-based property/casualty carrier Great American Insurance Group announced that John W. Sullivan has been promoted to divisional president of its specialty human services division. Sullivan has managed this business unit since October 1994. Under his leadership, the division has been consistently profitable and its gross written premiums tripled to around $60 million for 2003, the company said in a statement.
Prior to joining Great American, Sullivan spent about 20 years with USF&G in various operational roles. The specialty human services division has managed Great American’s insurance program for social service agencies and nonprofit organizations since 1980. This division works with contracted retail agencies to serve nearly 5,000 social service organizations and nonprofit agencies in most states. The division’s main offices are in Cincinnati and Chicago.
Chicago-based brokerage giant Acordia announced that Janice Freytag, vice president of the company’s Cincinnati office, was added as a trustee of the Cincinnati Insurance Board (CIB). The CIB is America’s first independent agents association.
With Acordia, Freytag is responsible for coordinating the insurance and risk management programs for her clients. Her practice focuses on public companies and large public sector clients including the City of Cincinnati, Hamilton County Metropolitan Sewer District, Cincinnati Public Schools, Columbus Public Schools and the Cincinnati Arts Association.
Acordia is a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co. and is the largest bank-owned brokerage in the United states.