People – Midwest

Great American Insurance Group, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, promoted Sue Erhart to corporate vice president of its property and casualty operations.

Erhart joined Great American’s legal department in 2010. Prior to joining the company, she was a partner with the law firm of Keating, Muething & Klekamp.

In her new role, Erhart will continue to support business operations and assist the general counsel of the property/casualty group in managing its legal risk.

Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co., a Farmington Hills, Mich.-based company, has promoted Ted Wagner to chief underwriting officer.

Wagner assumes management responsibility for the marketing, product development and field marketing and underwriting (FMU) functions, in addition to his current oversight for corporate underwriting, loss control, regulatory compliance and product maintenance.

He previously served as vice president of corporate underwriting and loss control, a position he has held since December 2010. He began his career with Amerisure in 2003 as vice president and chief actuary.

Amerisure also added Jennifer Nyquist-Bivins as director of brand management.

Nyquist-Bivins has more than 25 years of experience and most recently was president of Brand Propulsion LLC., a consulting company that helps organizations establish and reframe their brand differentiation positioning efforts. She also has served as brand strategist for Madison, Wis.-based American Family Insurance, as well as vice present of marketing at AutoTrader Publishing in Norfolk, Va.

Steve Horack joined St. Louis, Mo.-based HM Risk as executive vice president of business development.

Horack has more than 22 years of insurance industry experience. He began his career with Aetna Life & Casualty in 1990. He has served as a corporate risk manager and held positions with Great American Insurance Co., Marsh USA and Crum&Forster.

HM Risk is an international retail brokerage firm providing property/casualty and employee benefit services.

Cincinnati, Ohio-based insurance holding company, American Financial Group Inc., has promoted Michelle A. (Shelly) Gillis to senior vice president.

Since March 2012, Gillis has served as vice president and chief administrative officer with responsibilities for human resources, corporate communications, real estate and various shared service areas. She joined the company in 2004.

Sean Jackson joined insurance broker IMA Inc. as leader of its newly created IMA Global Risk. Jackson will be based in Kansas City and will direct efforts within all of IMA’s offices in Colorado, Kansas and Texas.

Jackson has 21 years of international insurance experience in both client service and management roles. He most recently served as the founding manager of the WorldRisk Underwriting Center for AIG.

Global Risk is a newly created division within IMA’s Special Risk group and is working with all IMA offices to drive international client service strategy to IMA’s existing multi-national accounts and prospective clients.

Aon Risk Solutions, the global risk management business of Aon plc, added Max West as senior vice president in its Chicago office.

West has more than 15 years of experience as an underwriter and broker of environmental and professional liability insurance. He has been involved in numerous transactions involving transfers of businesses or real estate, ranging from brownfield deals to portfolios of more than one thousand properties.

Columbia Insurance Group (CIG) promoted Shelly DeVore to branch manager of the Columbia, Mo., branch office location.

DeVore has served in a number of key roles in her 12-year career at CIG. She’s earned her AINS, CPCU, AIS and AU insurance designations by the Insurance Institutes of America.

As branch manager, DeVore succeeds Roger Birdsong, who has retired after 16 years with the company.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn named Michael Latz chairman of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC). Latz has served as a commissioner since October 2011. Before that, he was an attorney in private and public practice.

Quinn also renewed the appointments of Commissioners Mario Basurto, Thomas Tyrrell and Ruth White.

The board of insurance giant Liberty Mutual Insurance elected CEO David Long as chairman of the company, effective June 28. Long succeeds Edmund “Ted” Kelly, who is retiring as chairman and director.

Long will continue to be president and CEO in addition to taking on the chairman post.

Kelly has served Liberty Mutual in various leadership roles for more than two decades. He first joined Liberty Mutual in 1992 as president and chief operating officer, and was elected CEO in 1998. Kelly was elected chairman of Liberty Mutual in 2000. He retired from the company in June 2011 and continued as chairman of the board.

Long has served in multiple leadership positions at Liberty Mutual over his 28-year career with the company.