People – Midwest

Ohio Insurance Institute President Dan Kelso is retiring and senior staffer Dean Fadel has been named the OII’s new president.

Formerly vice president of Government Relations, Fadel joined OII in 1988. He previously held legislative and public affairs positions at the Ohio Dental Association and Ohio Department of Insurance.

Kelso joined the OII’s predecessor organization in 1977 as assistant counsel of the Insurance Federation of Ohio (IFO), becoming its president the following year. He served as IFO president until its merger with the Ohio Insurance Institute in 1989, serving as OII president until his retirement.

Bloomington, Minn.-based insurer, SFM, promoted Andy Gebhard to vice president, communications. Gebhard has been with SFM since 2007 in various roles, and most recently held the position of director of communications and social media.

SFM is a mutual insurance company providing workers’ compensation coverage in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Managing general agency and surplus lines broker J.M. Wilson promoted Ashley Montgomery to transportation underwriter in Kansas City, Mo., office.

Montgomery will quote new and renewal transportation risks, correspond with company underwriters, and serve independent insurance agents in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma. She joined J.M. Wilson in 2015 as assistant underwriter to the Property/Casualty and Transportation teams.

CNA appointed Barbara Sandelands as senior vice president, Commercial Underwriting Services. In this newly created role, she is responsible for driving the overall strategic direction and general management of underwriting services.

Sandelands joined CNA from Chubb, where she held multiple leadership positions over her 32-year tenure. Most recently, she served as senior vice president, Worldwide Workers’ Compensation manager.

Lansing, Mich.-based insurance holding company, AF Group, appointed Kevin Zielke as senior vice president and general counsel.

Prior to joining AF Group, Zielke was a member of the litigation department in the Detroit office of Dykema Gossett.

Founded in 1912, AF Group is a holding company conducting business through subsidiaries Accident Fund, United Heartland, CompWest and Third Coast Underwriters.

Accident Fund Insurance Company of America appointed Dean Holland vice president of Claims.

Holland joined the company in 1987 as a claims examiner, and has worked in various roles on the Claims team including supervisor, reserve auditor, manager, advisory support team manager and most recently, director of claims.

Holland has earned his Associate in Claims (AIC) and Associate in Insurance Services (AIS) designations.

Janelle Levesque joined XL Catlin as a senior marine underwriter. She is based in Chicago.

Levesque is responsible for inland marine business in the Midwest region, which includes Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri.

She previously held underwriting positions with ACE (Chubb).

Insurance brokerage firm, Hylant, named Chris Godley president in its Columbus, Ohio, office; promoted Craig Markos to president of Property/Casualty; and appointed Richard Hylant president of Field Operations and Innovation.

Godley has been with Hylant for 17 years. In his new role, he will be responsible for the overall success of the Columbus office by overseeing day-to-day operations and setting the strategic vision for growth.

Markos has more than two decades of industry experience and had served as president of the Columbus office since 2000.

Richard Hylant has 28 years of insurance industry experience.

Hylant was founded in 1935 and has 14 offices in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee and Florida.

Bull Insurance Agency, based in Lamar, Mo., promoted Liane Ayres to customer service producer.

Ayres, who recently earned her property/casualty insurance license, was previously a customer service representative at the company.

Bull Insurance specializes in auto, home, life, health, business and farm insurance.

Founded in 1992, the agency is owned by Kevin Bull and is a member of Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA).