People – Midwest

Van Wert, Ohio-based Central Insurance Companies announced several promotions in March.

Todd Simpson was promoted to assistant vice president of claims. A graduate of the Indiana University School of Law, Simpson has been employed by Central for 13 years. He has held positions as a claims attorney and claims operations director. Simpson holds the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Associates in Reinsurance (ARe) designations.

John White has been promoted to senior vice president of information technology. White has accountability for all information technology at Central including software development, hardware infrastructure, disaster recovery and IT operations.

White began his career with Central in 1979 as a programmer and was promoted to various positions in the department including leading the first agency/company interface efforts before being named vice president of information technology in 1999. He is also a member of the management committee, risk management committee, and business continuity committee and sits on several external IT advisory committees.

Keith Moore is now senior vice president of the southeast region. He will continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of the southeast regional office in Alpharetta, Ga., including claims, commercial lines underwriting, personal lines underwriting and marketing.

During his 35-year career with Central, Moore has held positions as a claim service representative, marketing manager, claims supervisor, claims manager, and regional manager. He holds the CPCU, Associate in Claims (AIC) and Associate in Underwriting (AU) designations.

Central Insurance Companies was founded in 1876 and writes more than 328,000 auto, home and business policies in 18 states.

International Excess Program Managers, based in Cleveland, Ohio, added Rich Bren to its executive team as vice president of transportation.

Bren has more than 25 years of experience in the transportation and insurance industry. He has held multiple officer roles with insurance companies in the trucking industry sector including Gateway Insurance Co. and Great West Casualty Co.

He also led the sales, marketing and administrative functions for a truck insurance agency in Phoenix, Ariz., and has served on the board and the executive committee of the Arizona Trucking Association. He is currently on the board of directors and recently served as the Alternate State VP to the ATA. He holds the CPCU, CIC and TRS designations.

Markel Corp. announced that Troy Williams has joined the medical malpractice team as director of medical professional liability. Williams is based in the Deerfield, Ill., office; his responsibilities are countrywide.

Williams is an experienced medical malpractice underwriter, having worked at CNA and St. Paul Cos. most recently.

He will report to Fran O’Connell, managing director of Markel’s Medical Product Line, which O’Connell said will be expanding.

Fremont Insurance, a Michigan-exclusive property/casualty insurance carrier with headquarters in Fremont, has hired Rich Fasi as vice president of marketing and sales.

Experienced in marketing, product management and underwriting, Fasi brings more than 28 years of insurance industry experience to his new position.

Prior to joining Fremont Insurance, Fasi’s career has included a variety of leadership roles. Most recently, Fasi served as vice president of personal lines marketing for Harleysville Insurance Cos.’ Midwest region, where he managed the company’s personal line sales and marketing in eight states.

Fasi has earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Insurance Management (AIM), Associate in Personal Insurance (API) and an Associate in Insurance Service (AIS) designations.

Fasi is a licensed producer and an instructor for the National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research, Michigan Associate of Independent Agents and the Michigan Professional Independent Agents. In addition, he is an adjunct professor of business for Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Mich.

Worldwide Facilities Inc. added William (Bill) Schmitt to its professional liability team. He will work out of Worldwide’s Chicago, Ill., office.

Schmitt has 20 years of professional liability insurance experience, primarily in lawyer’s professional liability, and has an in-depth knowledge of brokering and underwriting large law firms.

Previously, he was with Coregis/Westport, Fireman’s Fund and Arch Insurance, as well as ProQuest, a division of Alliant, and ProAccess, a division of Jamison/AssuredPartners.

Jamie Bisker joined the Aite Group as a senior analyst in the company’s property/casualty insurance team. He is based in Columbus, Ohio.

Bisker has more than 28 years of experience in the insurance industry.

Before joining Aite Group, Bisker worked most recently for IBM Research as the research relationship manager for insurance, responsible for providing industry expertise to scientists and mathematicians as well as exposing advanced technology research to insurance companies. He also served as a senior analyst and research director at TowerGroup. Prior to TowerGroup, he worked for 14 years across the life, P/C, and workers’ compensation lines at Nationwide Insurance.

Workers’ compensation insurance company, Accident Fund Holdings Inc., based in Lansing, Mich., appointed Dan L. Hunt, M.D., as corporate medical director.

Hunt will provide guidance and strategic direction on a wide range of medical management and cost containment initiatives, with a special focus on improving the quality of care for injured workers. He will also serve as clinical liaison to the organization’s brands, facilitating communication and relations with providers and medical vendors across the country.

Hunt most recently was founder and partner of the Greater Lansing Surgical Associates. Prior to that, he spent nine years with Mid-Michigan Surgeons and led his own practice for more than 13 years.

Hunt was chief of surgery at Ingham Regional Medical Center from 1992-1998, is a past alumni board president for Michigan State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and currently serves as board president for Genesis Surgery Center in Lansing.

Managing general agency and surplus lines insurance broker, J.M. Wilson, added Michele Terry, as branch manager of its Kansas City, Mo., location.

Terry will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Kansas City office and staff, and foster growth and development of the company’s agent base in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama.

Terry has nine years of insurance industry experience. She began her career as an underwriter at Farmers Insurance, Chubb Group of Insurance and American Family Insurance, before becoming supervisor at Philadelphia Insurance.

J.M. Wilson is based in Portage, Mich.

Ronald Rascia has been appointed acting secretary of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC).

Rascia joined the commission in April 2011 as chief legal counsel. He holds a BA in Economics from DePaul, and both a JD and Master of Law in Intellectual Property from John Marshall.