People – midwest

The board of directors of Iowa Mutual Insurance Co., in DeWitt, Iowa, has elected Drew Bright president.

Bright is the 10th president of the company in its more than 100-year history. He succeeds Thomas R. Cole, who retired after more than eight years at Iowa Mutual and 35 years with The Motorists Insurance Group, of which Iowa Mutual is a member.

Bright joined Iowa Mutual in 2009 as Underwriting and Marketing senior vice president. Before joining Iowa Mutual, he was assistant vice president of commercial lines for Motorists Mutual Insurance, which is the lead company of The Motorists Insurance Group.

He has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, and has held a number of commercial lines underwriting roles at Motorists Mutual. He also has considerable experience as an independent agent where he focused on selling and servicing complex commercial accounts.

The Motorists Insurance Group, based in Columbus, Ohio, has appointed Executive Vice President David L. Kaufman as chief operating officer.

Kaufman joined Motorists in 1986 and has served as actuarial manager and vice president, vice president of commercial lines, vice president of information technology and chief information officer. He also has served as senior vice president and chief financial officer at American Hardware Mutual Insurance Co., an affiliate of The Motorists Insurance Group.

Kaufman is as a member of the boards of directors for Motorists Mutual, Motorists Life, Iowa Mutual, Wilson Mutual and American Hardware Mutual. All group operations will be consolidated under Kaufman, who will also retain his title of executive vice president.

Cleveland, Ohio-based provider of consulting services for independent insurance agencies and brokers, MarshBerry, has added Rob Lieblein as an executive vice president.

Lieblein primary responsibilities will include financial management consulting, merger and acquisition advisory, and business planning.

He has more than 25 years of experience providing consulting services to the insurance and financial services industries. Prior to joining MarshBerry, Lieblein was a partner at Dowling Hales. He is a Certified Public Accountant.

Carmel, Ind.-based Oak Street Funding, a national commission-based lender for insurance agents, has hired Barry Kehl as director of underwriting and Maranda Stars as controller.

Kehl has prior executive level leadership positions for banking and investment companies, including Indiana Bank and Trust and Fifth Third Bank.

Stars was a senior auditor at Ernst & Young, where she performed audits and quarterly reviews for SEC and non-SEC clients in the retail, consumer products and utilities industries.

Oak Street Funding said it is on pace for 300 percent growth in 2012. As a result, it has added four new loan officers and two additional customer service representatives.

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. appointed Eric Shanks as senior vice president, personal insurance underwriting executive. He will be based in Chicago.

Shanks will provide strategic and operational direction for the personal insurance underwriting and product management team, which is focused on the high net worth and affluent segment of personal insurance.

A 19-year veteran of the insurance industry, Shanks has experience in underwriting management and field leadership and led underwriting, loss control, distribution and marketing initiatives. Most recently, Shanks served as senior vice president of the private client segment at Chartis Insurance. He also held leadership positions with Chubb Group of Insurance Cos. and Safeco Insurance.