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Clint Bothwell has been named Southeast regional president for Harleysville Insurance and will work in its new Atlanta regional office. The company also named other regional field organization leaders as it realigned the company’s existing network of field offices into four geographic zones.

Bothwell joined Harleysville in 2000 as underwriting manager at its Greensboro, N.C., branch. In 2002, he was elected vice president of Harleysville’s home office loss control organization and resident vice president of its Nashville branch. Prior joining Harleysville, he was with Liberty Mutual for 28 years.

Rich Abraham has been named branch manager of ACE USA’s new Charlotte, S.C., office. ACE USA of Philadelphia is the U.S.-based retail operating division of the ACE Group of Companies.

Abraham will work closely with brokers and clients in North Carolina and South Carolina, while overseeing the branch’s production plan, distribution, product sales, and marketing and general operations.

He has 26 years experience in insurance marketing, underwriting and management. Prior to joining ACE, Abraham spent six years as branch vice president of The PMA Insurance Group’s Carolinas operation. He has 19 years with The Hartford and is a past-president of the Charlotte Chapter of the CPCU Society.

Wayne Bates has been promoted to director of the Burns & Wilcox Special Risk Division, International, and elevated to associate vice president. Burns & Wilcox is a national specialty insurance managing general agency.

Bates was previously a director of Burns & Wilcox’s London Consortium Department and deputy director of SRD, International, responsible for underwriting and marketing key London contracts on which Burns & Wilcox assumes risks via its affiliates. Bates manages reinsurance activities involving current contracts, as well as the development of new contracts and programs in the London market. In addition, he oversees the overall operations of Illinois R.B. Jones, a wholly owned subsidiary that specializes in providing specialty lines coverage to agents and wholesalers.

Edward G. Troy has been named president and CEO of the GAB Robins Group of Companies, a claims services firm.

Troy has more than 35 years experience in the risk management and property casualty business. Before joining GAB Robins, he was president of ESIS, a risk management services company that is part of ACE USA, headquartered in Philadelphia.

Prior to ESIS, Troy was founder and president of Ed Troy Associates, a risk management company. He also held senior management positions with Liberty Mutual, AIG and CNA and he began his a career as a casualty underwriter at The Hartford.

Shelly Diegel has been elected chairman of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents’ company council of executive officers for 2006. Diegel is vice president, small business distribution, at Zurich in Baltimore, Md., and since 2003 has represented Zurich Small Business on the PIA-CCEO.

PIA-CCEO’s senior insurance company executives work to improve the agency-company partnership. Since joining Zurich in 2000, Diegel has been actively involved in developing and implementing a small business distribution management strategy that supports more than 11,000 independent agents.

Diegel was instrumental in developing Zurich’s Small Business Customer Service Center. She began her insurance career in 1982, working in personal lines for a local Baltimore independent agency. After six years in several agency positions, Diegel joined Maryland Casualty to lead its agency automation team, then moved to USF&G to begin an agency automation program. She spent eight years with USF&G and St. Paul in technology, sales, marketing and distribution in Personal Lines, Small Commercial and Surety.

Candace Martin has joined CHOICE Medical Management Services LLC in Tampa, Fla., as medical bill review manager. Martin oversees the day-to-day operations of medical bill review units in Tampa and Sarasota, Fla., ensuring compliance with workers’ compensation laws, state fee schedules and network contracts.

Martin has 20 years of health care experience, most recently as director of marketing for Nassau Open MRI, LLC in Fernandina Beach, Fla. She previously held positions as a manager for a physicians’ practice and a provider relations representative. CHOICE, a specialty health care management organization, focuses on workers’ compensation and disability management services.

K. Shane Caldwell, president of Brown & Brown’s Public Risk Underwriters subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc. of Daytona Beach and Tampa, Fla., has been named president of a new Public Entity Services region. J. Powell Brown regional executive vice president, will be responsible for the operations of the new region.

The formation of the new reporting region and the new appointments were announced by Jim W. Henderson, Brown & Brown president and COO. Brown & Brown Public Entity Services will focus on providing insurance-related products and services to governmental and quasi-governmental entities nationwide.

John T. “Tommy” Cook, James E. Mishoe III, Leland C. “Lee” Ruef and Kathy D. McKay received 2005 industry awards during the 107th annual convention of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of South Carolina.

Cook received the “Hayne P. Glover, Jr. Agent of the Year” award. He is president of John T. Cook & Assoc. in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Mishoe was honored with the “Young Agent of the Year” award. He is with Peoples Underwriters Inc. in Conway, S.C.

Ruef received the “Industry Person of the Year” award. He is president of Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of South Carolina in Columbia.

McKay was honored by the American Association of Managing General Agents with the “AAMGA Achievement Award.” She is with Stelling & Associates in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.