People

Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan appointed Matt Taylor as vice president of Marketing.

Taylor joined Farm Bureau Insurance in 2009 as an agent. He later joined marketing management as a managing partner in the Southeast Region. He subsequently became a managing partner in the Central Region and then held that same position in the Western Region.

He began his insurance career at State Farm Insurance.

Bell Insurance Solutions in Collinsville, Illinois, hired Larry Massey as sales producer.

Prior to joining Bell Insurance Solutions, Massey worked in numerous business service-related industries including as a certified pharmacy technician for 18 years. He served two four-year terms as a Stookey Township Trustee.

Bell Insurance Solutions is a full-service insurance agency that specializes in business, life, home and auto insurance. The company was founded in 2016 by owner JR Bell, who has been in the insurance industry since 2008.

Jacob F. Scherer Jr., chief insurance officer and executive vice president of The Cincinnati Insurance Co., will retire in August 2019.

As a result, Stephen M. Spray, senior vice president – Commercial Lines, will become chief insurance officer and assume executive oversight of the company’s property/casualty insurance operations. Sean M. Givler, senior vice president – Sales & Marketing, will assume leadership of the company’s commercial lines operations. Angela O. Delaney, assistant secretary – Sales Field, will lead property/casualty insurance sales and marketing operations.

Spray has almost 30 years of industry experience, having previously served as an agent, an underwriter and a field marketing representative. Spray also helped establish the company’s excess and surplus lines operations, created the Target Markets division and led property/casualty sales and marketing.

Givler, who has held a variety of positions in underwriting and field sales over his more than 20 years with the company, was most recently the senior executive responsible for relationships with the company’s independent agents and for the execution of its field strategy.

Delaney currently oversees field marketing representatives and agency relationships in Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington. She joined the company in 1998 and was appointed as an officer of Cincinnati Insurance earlier this year.

Kurt Bock will retire as chief executive officer of Illinois-based Country Financial effective Jan. 31, 2019.

Bock has been chief executive officer since 2012. The company said a search for his successor is underway.

As CEO, Bock led Country Financial’s mergers of Cotton States Mutual Insurance Co. and MiddleOak Insurance Companies and stressed digital and data analytics capabilities, customer focus and employee development.

Before joining Country, he was CEO of the IAA Credit Union from 2003 to 2005, served as treasurer of Country and the Illinois Agricultural Association (IAA) from 2005 to 2008, and was the chief operating officer of Horizon Hobby until his selection as the Country CEO. Prior to joining IAA, Bock served in the United States Air Force for 28 years.

Country Financial does business in 19 states offering farm home, auto, business, crop, specialty, life and retirement insurance products. It has more than 3,800 employees.

Chicago-based commercial lines insurer CNA appointed Michael Costonis as chief operations officer. He will lead all information technology, analytics and operations functions across the organization.

Costonis joins CNA after a 26-year career at Accenture, where he was the Global Insurance Industry Practice leader. Costonis has spent nearly three decades consulting for insurance companies and has worked with more than 50 carriers in 21 countries. He has led initiatives involving digital programs, service design techniques, API architecture and a patented analytical method for optimizing claim outcomes.

Costonis succeeds J. Merten, who will retire at year-end after 30 years in the insurance and consulting industries.

Iowa-based insurance services firm Holmes Murphy named Susan Hatten as senior manager, Corporate Community Engagement, a newly created position that fits Hatten’s expertise.

This new role is reflective of the connections Hatten has developed across the Holmes Murphy enterprise. Hatten will be responsible for the development of Holmes Murphy Foundation’s strategic philanthropy initiatives and will serve as philanthropic advisor for the enterprise.

Formerly an account executive with the company, Hatten has been a part of the Holmes Murphy team for four years.