People

RLI Corp. of Peoria, Ill., has hired Craig Kliethermes as vice president of actuarial services.

Kliethermes will report to Joseph Dondanville, chief financial officer and senior vice president. His responsibilities include pricing, reserving, enterprise risk modeling and actuarial analysis of new business opportunities.

Kliethermes was formerly with Lockton Co.’s in Kansas City, where he was senior vice president and director of quantitative analysis. He also was formerly with GE Insurance/Employers Reinsurance and John Deere Insurance Co.

Swett & Crawford, Woodland Hills, Calif., has named Neal Abernathy CEO. Abernathy has been president and COO since August 2005. He will also retain the president’s title.

In addition, the firm will move its corporate offices from Woodland Hills, Calif. to Atlanta to streamline and consolidate administrative and support functions under Abernathy’s leadership.

Mercator Risk Services, a New York-based independent wholesale insurance broker, has opened a management/professional liability practice and appointed Peter McKeegan executive vice president.

McKeegan will be responsible for building Mercator’s management/professional liability business, including directors and officers, errors and omissions, fiduciary liability, employment practices liability, bonds, and reps and warranties for mergers and acquisitions.

McKeegan was previously one of the original employees of Arch Insurance Group, running its management/professional liability units in the United States and United Kingdom. Before that, McKeegan was a founding partner at Axcelera Specialty Risk, as well as a senior executive at American International Group.

International property and casualty insurer and reinsurer Catlin Group Ltd. appointed Vincent Brazauskas senior vice president and chief administrative officer of Catlin Inc., the group’s U.S. subsidiary.

Brazauskas will be responsible for non-underwriting functions for Catlin’s U.S. operations, including Catlin Insurance Co. Inc., the Catlin Group’s fourth underwriting platform. Those functions include information technology, human resources, facilities management and claims.

Brazauskas has 29 years of management experience, including human resources, IT, communication, facilities and claims expertise. He most recently served as an independent insurance and management consultant in Easton, Mass. Prior to that, Brazauskas was with One Beacon Insurance Co. and its predecessors (CGU and Commercial Union) for more than 20 years, serving as managing director/senior vice president and chief administrative officer from 1995-2002.

General Re Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., has named Michael L. Sweeney chairman and CEO of its aviation underwriting subsidiary, United States Aviation Underwriters Inc. Sweeney had formerly been president and COO. Sweeney replaces Harold J. Clark who retired from USAU on April 26, 2006.

After serving as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, Sweeney joined USAU in 1974 as an aviation underwriter and held progressively responsible positions. He was promoted to president and COO on Jan. 1, 2001.

Praetorian Financial Group, Hannover Re’s U.S. specialty insurance subsidiary, which has assumed most of the business formerly written by Clarendon, announced the appointment of Susan Rivera as president, reporting to CEO Rod Fox.

Rivera was most recently president and CEO of ACE USA. She spent 15 years at AIG, where she started as an actuary and progressed to positions of increasing responsibility, with her last assignment being president of American Home Assurance Co.

New York, N.Y.-based Advisen Ltd. has named Ken Wagner as COO and a member of its board of directors.

Advisen also announced the addition of Edward Vincent as global product manager and Chellaswamy Kumar Kumaraguruparan as head of operations.

Wagner will be responsible for the oversight and management of company’s operations, including enhancing Advisen’s technology infrastructure and product development.

Wagner previously served as COO of Thomson Financial’s $500 million Retail Wealth Management division, overseeing finance, product development, technical operations and customer service. Prior to that, he spent 12 years at Bloomberg, where in his last role, he managed the integrated products group for the Americas.

Cort Smith has joined Professional Underwriters, Exton, Pa., as regional marketing representative for the Mountain and Western state regions. He will be in the Salt Lake City office branch, where he will create new opportunities for the company, as well as reinforce the company’s commitment to existing customers.

Prior to joining Professional Underwriters, Smith worked in the public entity market with Marsh, St. Paul and PENCO.

David F. “Bud” Wilson has been awarded the most distinguished honor the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) bestows upon an individual. He was presented with the Woodworth Memorial Award during the Big “I” National Legislative Conference and Convention. Wilson is CEO of Wilson Insurance Agency in Chula Vista, Calif.

The Woodworth Award was established in 1925 in memory of C.H. Woodworth of Buffalo, N.Y., the second president of the association. It is awarded annually to the Big “I” member who best demonstrates outstanding service benefiting independent insurance agents and the entire insurance industry.

Wilson has contributed to the independent agency system in a variety of ways, including serving as Big “I” president and chairman of its Government Affairs Committee.