People – Midwest

Excess workers’ compensation insurance provider, Safety National Casualty Corp., based in St. Louis, Mo., announced a number of management appointments that became effective March 1.

Tom Grove, assistant vice president – business development, is now vice president – business development.

Stan Simek, director of excess workers’ compensation, assumed the role of vice president – excess workers’ compensation underwriting.

Nick Kriegel, assistant general counsel, is now vice president and assistant general counsel.

Michael Kim, director – loss portfolio transfer, is now vice president – loss portfolio transfer.

Debbie Biggane, assistant vice president – ceded reinsurance, is now vice president – ceded reinsurance.

Mike Harris, assistant vice president – claims, is now vice president – claims.

Rich Gilmore, assistant vice president – business development, assumed the role of vice president – Eastern region.

Founded in 1942, Safety National provides excess workers’ compensation coverage to self-insured employers and groups nationwide.

Columbus, Ohio-based Motorists Mutual Insurance Co. promoted Joe Fullenkamp to vice president, personal lines division.

Fullenkamp most recently served as the assistant vice president, personal lines division. He was previously a district sales manager for Motorists’ Columbus South District and began his career at Motorists as a personal lines underwriter in 2003.

Grandville, Mich.-based Grand General Agency, a Great Lakes regional wholesaler, added Jamie Fisher to its team. Fisher serves the independent agents of Wisconsin and Minnesota as Grand General’s marketing representative. She joins Grand General with a varied background in sales, marketing and training.

CNA Financial Corp., based in Chicago, appointed Christopher Leisz as senior vice president and chief underwriting officer for CNA Specialty.

Leisz joins CNA with more than 13 years of insurance industry experience, most recently serving as Midwest regional executive for Hiscox USA, where he was responsible for production growth, marketing, distribution strategy and account management. Prior to that, he led development of its management and professional liability suite of products and also held roles with American International Group Inc., including time as a coverage attorney.

Meadowbrook Insurance Group Inc., based in Southfield, Mich., appointed Roger S. Walleck, as chief underwriting officer.

Walleck oversees all underwriting activities for Meadowbrook and its insurance subsidiaries, and reports directly to Meadowbrook President and Chief Executive Officer Robert S. Cubbin. In addition, Walleck manages the corporate loss control, regulatory compliance, premium audit and reinsurance operations.

Walleck joined Meadowbrook in 2005 and has more than 33 years of commercial underwriting and operations experience. While at Meadowbrook, he has served as vice president for the company’s Florida operation and most recently, as regional vice president in Overland Park, Kan.

Walleck previously was underwriting manager, responsible for the New York business market division of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group. He has served as the vice-chair of the New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board Governing Committee, and holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and the Associate in Insurance Services (AIS) designations.

Wells Fargo Insurance, part of Wells Fargo & Co., named Stefani Tygar Barnes as head of its personal insurance segment in Minneapolis, Minn.

Barnes was recently senior vice president and relationship manager for Wells Fargo’s wealth, brokerage and retirement (WBR) cross-sell team. She has held various leadership roles with the Wells Fargo’s retirement division, including overseeing the call center, building a small business retirement product and service team, and managing multiple client service groups. Barnes is also a former consultant with Deloitte Consulting.

Dallas-based electronic insurance exchange and specialty MGA, MarketScout, expanded its national fine art and collectibles program with three new hires: Donna Hester, underwriter; Susan Soloman, underwriter; and Cheryl Fogel, underwriting assistant.

The underwriting team operates out of MarketScout’s Itasca, Ill., office and focuses on underwriting both commercial and personal fine art exposures.

MarketScout also expanded its commercial specialty program underwriting practice with the addition of Greg Whaley as assistant vice president, lead underwriter of its new national animal mortality facility. Whaley is based in MarketScout’s Omaha, Neb., office.

Whaley has more than 24 years of experience in underwriting mortality risks. Prior to joining MarketScout, Whaley served as vice president, lead program manager at a global insurance company.