People

Associated Agencies Inc. in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, has hired Talicia Bashford as chief operating officer, a newly created position.

Bashford will focus on overall operations and several areas of opportunity, including employee engagement, branding, talent management, process sustainability, training and technology.

Prior to joining Associated Agencies, Bashford worked at Assurance for eight years. She spent four years as the senior vice president of Strategic Solutions and Technology and four years previously as a client services director. She also worked at the Horton Group for more than six years in multiple capacities, including as a sales executive and leading client service operations.

Formed in 1890 when three brokerage firms merged to form one agency, Associated Agencies has grown from a small independent agency to a staff of 120 employees serving more than 3,000 clients across the U.S.

Des Moines, Iowa-based Holmes Murphy added Jimmy Schneider to its Sioux Falls, S.D., team as vice president of Employee Benefits.

Schneider is a second-generation insurance agent and will play a crucial role working with customers on strategic direction and bringing innovative solutions to the market.

He has more than 18 years of industry experience and has worked in four states managing more than 1,000 active employee benefit producers. He makes the move to Holmes Murphy from Great Plains Brokerage, where he worked for 17 years.

The Central Insurance Companies, headquartered in Van Wert, Ohio, promoted Matt Korte to vice president of Information Technology for both Central Mutual Insurance Co. and All America Insurance Co.

Korte succeeds John White, who has retired.

Korte began his career at Central as a programmer intern in the summer of 1998 and started full-time in December of that same year. Korte was promoted to IT Group manager in 2004 overseeing the development of Central’s Commercial Lines IT systems.

In 2016, he took on the additional responsibility of overseeing the development of the Personal Lines IT systems. Korte was promoted to Information Technology director in August 2017.

Chicago-based Promont Insurance Advisors, which specializes in hard-to-place coverages, has appointed Patti Sharkey as agency sales director.

Sharkey brings to Promont an extensive background in commercial industry insurance, having most recently served as assistant vice president of a Midwest-based wholesale brokerage, where she was influential in the significant growth and development of the company’s central region.

Promont Insurance Advisors is a member company of Fort Wayne, Indiana-based DOXA Insurance Holdings LLC.

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) hired Carolina Thatcher as its first director of Inclusion & Diversity.

Thatcher assumes the role following a similar stint with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, where she designed and implemented an inclusion and diversity strategic plan to recruit and retain top talent and better serve the agency’s customers.

At Job and Family Services, Thatcher’s duties included curriculum development, training and implementation, and serving on several multi-agency inclusion and diversity committees across the state.

Prior to that she worked as an insurance underwriter for State Farm Insurance in Newark and as an assistant program director for East End Community Services Corp. in Dayton, where she established the nonprofit as a leading agency on immigrant issues.

A native of Chile, Thatcher speaks Spanish and English and holds a master’s degree in public administration from Wright State University.

Chicago-based CNA appointed Doug Kortfelt as senior vice president and chief procurement officer.

Kortfelt will lead CNA’s Enterprise Vendor Management and Procurement teams.

He joins CNA with 25 years of vendor management and procurement experience in various industries and roles.

Most recently, Kortfelt served as chief procurement officer and global head of Accounting Operations with Nasdaq.

CNA also added Mark James as senior vice president for Global Reinsurance. He will be responsible for CNA’s reinsurance strategies and purchasing around the globe.

James has more than 15 years of experience in the reinsurance space. He joins CNA from American International Group.