People – East

Erie, Penn.-based Erie Insurance Group appointed Brad Postema as senior vice president and chief investment officer. In his new role, Postema will be responsible for the investment strategies of Erie Insurance Exchange, its underwriting subsidiaries and Erie Indemnity Company. Postema joins Erie from GE Asset Management, the Stamford, Conn.-based global investment management firm wholly owned by General Electric Company. He most recently served at GE Asset Management as senior vice president and senior portfolio manager for insurance. Postema worked at General Electric for more than 12 years.

PIA Management Services Inc. in Glenmont, N.Y., hired Bradford Lachut as government affairs counsel for its government and industry affairs department. In his new role, Lachut serves as in-house counsel, responsible for managing public affairs agendas in multiple states, tracking significant case law developments and drafting position statements and testimony. Prior to PIA, Lachut worked as an attorney for Steven J. Baum, P.C., Amherst, N.Y. PIA Management Services is the umbrella corporation that manages the Glenmont, N.Y.-based Professional Insurance Agents. PIANY, PIANJ, PIACT and PIANH is a partnership of four state trade associations representing independent insurance agencies.

Vanessa Wittman, who served as Marsh & McLennan’s chief financial officer from September 2008 until earlier this year, is going back to the high-tech industry. She has been named as the new CFO at Google’s newly acquired Motorola Mobility Holdings unit. Google made the announcement last month when its $12.5 billion cash purchase of Motorola Mobility was finalized. Marsh & McLennan Companies had said in March that Wittman would be leaving to take “a senior role” at Google, but neither Marsh nor Google said at the time what her new position would be. Prior to joining Marsh & McLennan, she was CFO of Adelphia Communications from 2003 to 2007.

Burns & Wilcox’s Baltimore office promoted Geoffrey Crater to assistant branch manager. Crater joined Burns & Wilcox in January as director of sales, and was selected to participate in the “Kaufman Accelerated Management Progression Program,” a development program designed to rapidly progress high-potential individuals to leadership positions within the Kaufman Financial Group companies including Burns & Wilcox. Previously, Crater held positions as senior marine sales underwriter, regional sales underwriter and senior middle market sales underwriter at The Hartford. Based in Farmington Hills, Mich., Burns & Wilcox is the industry’s largest privately-held wholesale broker and underwriting manager.

American International Group’s Chartis division appointed Lance Ewing, former vice president of risk management of Harrah’s Entertainment, to be the U.S./Canada industry practice leader for Chartis’ newly launched hospitality and leisure industry practice group. The new industry practice group will provide insurance and risk management products for the hotel, amusement, gaming, restaurant, resort and theme park segments.

Johnston, R.I.-headquartered FM Global announced a number of changes to its management team. Chris Johnson, who recently served as senior vice president of marketing, became senior vice president – Asia Pacific. He will work from offices in Johnston, R.I, as well as in Singapore. He has worked at FM Global for more than three decades. Roberta Butler, who recently served as vice president, brand management, was promoted to senior vice president – marketing. She is based in Johnston, R.I. She joined FM Global in 1985. Ziad Alex Tadmoury, who recently served as vice president, operations manager, Southern Europe, was promoted to senior vice president – client service and sales. He will be based in Johnston, R.I.