People – Midwest
Ohio Gov. John R. Kasich named Jillian E. Froment to serve as the director of the Ohio Department of Insurance.
Froment succeeds Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor who has stepped down as insurance director but will continue to serve as lieutenant governor.
Froment has served as deputy director of the insurance department since 2011. She has actively represented Ohio in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and has served on the NAIC Cybersecurity Task Force, the Innovation and Technology Task Force and the Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Working Group.
She is currently serving as the treasurer of the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission and was recently named by Columbus Business First as one of the “People to Know” in the insurance industry.
Taylor has served as insurance director since becoming lieutenant governor in January 2011. She recently announced the creation of the Mary Taylor for Governor committee.
Mark R. Lonneman has been named president of American Empire Surplus Lines Insurance Co. (AESLIC), a member of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Great American Insurance Group.
He succeeds Fred Woebse, who recently retired.
Lonneman will continue to serve as divisional president of Great American Insurance Group’s Specialty E&S Division, a role he has held since 2010.
He has 40 years of industry experience and holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation.
Oswald Companies, based in Cleveland, Ohio, appointed Suzanne Sandusky as global casualty practice leader for property/casualty. Sandusky will lead the independent insurance brokerage firm’s national and international casualty strategy.
Sandusky has 25 years of experience in designing unique casualty programs for large global clients. She most recently served as regional vice president for Travelers national accounts, where she held responsibilities in business development, underwriting and delivery of services to larger organizations mainly sourced in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia and Kentucky.
Prior to joining Travelers, Sandusky served as a broker for Marsh & McLennan Companies in Pittsburgh.
Great American Insurance Group promoted Jane Kornesczuk to divisional president of its Executive Liability Division. The division is based in Schaumburg, Ill.
Kornesczuk joined Great American in 1990 as a senior underwriter. She was named chief underwriting officer in the Executive Liability Division in 2006, and was promoted to divisional executive vice president in 2013, also assuming responsibility for the division’s marketing functions.
She has more than 32 years of experience in the management and professional liability industry.
Great American’s Executive Liability Division has regional offices in Chicago, Illinois; Princeton, New Jersey; New York, New York; Denver, Colorado; Atlanta, Georgia; Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; and Toronto, Ontario.
Spencer Timmel joined Safety National as national director of Cyber and Technology. In his new capacity with Safety National, Timmel lead Safety National’s effort to become a provider of cyber liability and other related coverage.
Timmel has nearly 20 years of experience in the industry and a decade of cyber-related experience in the areas of risk identification and modeling, breach preparedness, coverage analysis and claims advocacy.
He previously worked at Ohio-based broker Hylant Group for almost nine years, since 2016 as vice president for Cyber Security and Privacy Liability. Prior to Hylant, he worked as an underwriter at Chubb and, before that, at Cincinnati Financial.
Safety National, a member of the Tokio Marine Group, said it expects to launch its cyber liability offerings in the second quarter of 2017.
The Ohio Insurance Agents Association (OIA) added Megan Smith as company partners manager.
From her roots as a personal lines underwriter for Western Reserve Group in Wooster to her most recent position as a sales manager at Grange Insurance in Columbus, Smith brings nearly 10 years of insurance industry experience to the company partners role. In her new role at OIA, her focus is to build relationships with carrier partners and learn how OIA can leverage carriers’ collective resources to deliver meaningful programs and resources to Ohio independent agents.
Smith has earned the CPCU, API and AINS professional insurance designations.
Kristin S. Palmer has been named senior vice president and head of Communications at the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.).
Palmer previously was vice president, Media Relations, for the AARP, a nonprofit organization for retirees with nearly 38 million members.
Prior to joining AARP in 2012, Palmer was the director of Public Affairs for the child care advocacy group Child Care Aware of America and served as senior communications manager for Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.
Previously, Palmer managed communications for the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and the Association of Public Television Stations. She began her career at Brodeur Partners, a global communications agency, and The Kamber Group, a boutique public relations firm.
Palmer will be based in the Washington, D.C. office. In addition to leading the I.I.I.’s media relations operations and acting as a primary I.I.I. spokesperson, she will be responsible for developing a communications strategy that expands the I.I.I.’s digital footprint, increases brand awareness and boosts engagement with the organization’s key stakeholders.
Palmer assumes the role held previously by Jeanne Salvatore, who has been appointed chief engagement officer and senior spokesperson.
Marianna Wilson has been hired to serve as professional liability director for national accounts for the Big “I” Advantage program of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America.
The organization created the position to service and expand the program, according to Mark Wolf, Big “I” Advantage vice president.
Wilson previously worked for the Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia where she served as program manager. She also spent 28 years in the insurance industry in numerous roles including client executive with the Pennsylvania agency RCM&D and as a claims adjuster.
Big “I” Advantage is a for-profit insurance agency subsidiary of the insurance agent trade group IIABA. The agency administers the Big “I” Professional Liability program, Big “I” Markets and other member benefits including personal umbrella and flood programs.
Peoria, Ill.-based specialty insurer RLI Corp. promoted Betsy McLaughlin to vice president, chief claim counsel.
McLaughlin is assuming the responsibilities of Brian J. Casey, who retired March 31. Casey will continue to serve in an advisory role.
McLaughlin joined RLI in 2000 as director, Claim, and held various positions in the Claim Department until being promoted to vice president, claim counsel in 2015.
She has more than 20 years of insurance industry experience.
Casey joined RLI in 1996 as manager, casualty claims, and served in various roles in the Claim Department until his promotion to vice president, chief claim counsel in 2015.
He retires after more than 25 years in the insurance industry.
RLI Corp. is a specialty insurer serving diverse, niche property, casualty and surety markets.
West Des Moines, Iowa-based independent insurance brokerage Holmes Murphy added Justin Slapnicka in its Cedar Rapids location.
Slapnicka has a background in the construction and safety industry. In his new role as loss control consultant, Slapnicka will be responsible for providing analysis, consultation, oversight, and direction for Holmes Murphy clients’ loss control programs and processes.
Prior to joining Holmes Murphy, Slapnicka served in various safety positions across multiple states involving construction sites for such industries as hospitals, Iowa public universities, wind energy, manufacturing and energy.
Timothy Janeway joined Everest Insurance as senior underwriter, associate manager for Inland Marine. He is based in Chicago.
Janeway joins Everest from CNA, where he was a senior underwriter responsible for the Midwest and mid-Atlantic states.
Prior to joining CNA, he spent two years with Hub International.
The Hartford named A. Morris “Mo” Tooker, currently chief underwriting officer, as head of its Middle Market segment.
Tooker remains chief underwriting officer for the company’s property/casualty businesses. He joined The Hartford in 2015, when he was named executive vice president and chief underwriting officer for property/casualty.
Prior to joining The Hartford in 2015, Tooker served as president of General Reinsurance Corp.