People and Places

William Stiglitz

The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America‘s board of state directors has nominated William G. Stiglitz III as the association’s president-elect and has elected Alex Soto as the association’s next vice president.

Stiglitz will assume his new office at the 2004 Big “I” Convention in Orlando this October. Soto will move up to the vice president position at the same meeting. Stiglitz and current IIABA President-Elect Thomas A. Grau, CPCU, will be sworn in as president-elect and president, respectively, during the Orlando meeting.

Alex Soto

Stiglitz is an account executive with the firm of Hyland, Block & Hyland, Inc., in Louisville, Ky. He was elected to the executive committee in October 2000. Stiglitz has been active on all levels of Big “I” member organizations during his 34-year career as an independent agent.

Soto, currently an at-large member of the Big “I” Executive Committee, is president of Miami, Fla.-based InSource Inc. Soto also has been active in the Big “I” nationally and in the Florida association during his 31-year career as an independent insurance agent.

Mark Brissman

Allmerica Financial Corporation announced that Mark D. Brissman has been appointed vice president and chief actuary of its lead companies, Citizens Insurance and The Hanover Insurance Company. He will play a role in product and pricing strategies and will be responsible for reserving and reinsurance. Brissman comes to Allmerica from CNA where he served in a number of senior level roles – most recently as vice president and actuary for commercial lines. He also served as senior actuarial and underwriting officer in CNA’s personal lines division. Prior to joining CNA, Brissman was president of Landmark Insurance Company, an excess and surplus lines subsidiary of AIG.

Wayne Pardue

Applied Systems Inc. announced the appointments of Wayne Pardue to the newly created position of chief sales and marketing officer and Tony Villa to the newly created position of executive vice president of product management and marketing.

Tony Villa

In these new positions, Pardue will lead the sales, client solutions, Applied Consulting Services, product management and marketing teams. Villa will oversee the product management and marketing teams in their initiatives to continue to build Applied’s brand and market share.

Pardue has over 20 years in financial services, including as a bank manager, manager of the sales department for a property/casualty insurance carrier and, from 1984 to 1992, owner of an independent insurance agency in North Carolina. He joined Applied Systems in 1993.

Villa has more than 10 years experience in software consulting and product management. He began with Applied Systems in 1998.

The Protector Group Insurance Agency in Worcester, Mass. has promoted two of its employees. Nancy B. Melton has been promoted to senior account manager for the commercial lines department. She will work closely with the sales team and underwriting department to assure client satisfaction. Also, Stephanie P. Landgren is now benefit advisor, responsible for managing the health, dental, life and disability programs for clients as well as assisting in new business development.

The Institute for Business & Home Safety’s (IBHS) board of directors has elected Dale Hammond as its chairman. Hammond is president and chief operating officer of Kemper Auto and Home, based in Jacksonville, Fla. Hammond succeeds Lawrence Lange, vice president and chief underwriting officer with the Auto Club Insurance Association, who will remain on the IBHS board. IBHS is an association that works to reduce losses caused by extreme weather events and natural disasters.

The American Insurance Marketing and Sales (AIMS) Society, a national organization providing sales training, networking and marketing support, announced the election of the 2004-2005 officers. The following members were elected: Michael Grace, of Wright & Percy Insurance in Baton Rouge, La., as president; Richard Dygve, of Johnson & Strachan Insurance Agency in Fairfax, Va., as vice president; Michael Herzak, of Insurance Systems Agency Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio, as secretary; and Martin Lebson, of Insurance Resource Brokerage Group LLC, in Upper Saddle River, N.J., as treasurer.

Eaton & Berube Insurance, of Nashua and Milford, N.H., has named Alicia White commercial account executive. White came to Eaton & Berube Insurance from a Manchester agency, where she marketed commercial accounts and supervised a staff of customer service representatives.

The shareholders of Harleysville Group Inc. and the policyholders of Harleysville Mutual Insurance Company have re-elected two members to each of their respective boards of directors. Lowell R. Beck has been re-elected to a three-year term on the Harleysville Group board, while Joseph E. McMenamin has been re-elected to a one-year term because he will reach the company’s retirement age of 72 prior to the 2005 annual meeting. Michael L. Browne and Frank E. Reed were re-elected to three-year terms on the Harleysville Mutual board.

Beck is retired president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Independent Insurers (now the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America). He has been a director of Harleysville Group since 1996.

McMenamin is the former president and chief operating officer of Keystone Insurance Companies.

Browne is Harleysville Group’s chief executive officer. He is also
president and chief executive officer of Harleysville Mutual. He was named to those positions earlier this year. Prior to that, he was head of the international insurance practice for Reed Smith LLP, Philadelphia.

Reed, who has been a director of Harleysville Mutual since 1985 and was elected to the Harleysville Group board in 1986, was chairman of the board of 360 Communications Company until its merger with Alltel Corporation.