People – Midwest

Lansing, Mich.-based AF Group announced that Mike Britt, president of Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America, will retire in December.

Al Gileczek, senior vice president of business development at Accident Fund, will succeed Britt as president in January. Additionally, Gileczek has been appointed president of AF Group subsidiary, CompWest Insurance, effective immediately.

Gileczek began his career at Accident Fund in 2007, holding various positions in business development and regional operations.

AF Group conducts insurance business through its brands Accident Fund, United Heartland, CompWest and Third Coast Underwriters.

Robert Aschentrop joined insurance broker Lockton Cos. as vice president in Kansas City, Mo.

Aschentrop comes to Lockton with more than 10 years of experience in the financial services industry with proficiency in financial analysis, auditing and budgeting. His other areas of expertise include employee benefits, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, retirement planning and consulting.

Before joining Lockton, Aschentrop served as a consultant for CBIZ. Prior to that, he was a senior banker for UHL and vice president for US Bank.

DSP Insurance Services in Schaumburg, Ill., has added employee benefits specialist, Nancy Vatch, along with her team of professionals, and acquired Cormac Benefits Group, led by Bill Storie.

DSP also announced that Jim Sulkowski has been promoted to the position of DSP President. Sulkowski has devoted 32 years of his career to DSP. He previously was president of DSP’s surety division.

Missouri-based POWERS Insurance and Benefits and Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA) named Brien Pidgeon as chief operating officer.

Pidgeon is a seasoned C-Level executive with experience in both the public and private financial service industries. Pidgeon recently relocated back to St. Louis after a 24-year absence.

Both POWERS Insurance and Benefits and VIAA are located at 7745 Carondelet Ave. in St. Louis, Mo.

Insurance brokerage Hylant, headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, promoted Doug Miller to vice president, Executive Risk Practice leader. He assumes the Executive Risk Practice group leadership from Jim Lash, who was recently named president of the Cincinnati office.

Miller brings almost 25 years of experience working in areas of coverage analysis, financial risk modeling and acquisition due diligence.

Founded in 1935, Hylant has 14 offices in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee and Florida, and is a member of the Worldwide Broker Network.

Property/casualty insurance company, CNA, appointed Shay Conyers to assistant vice president of distribution. He is based in Chicago

He has 16 years of industry experience, and joined CNA in 2012 as business development leader for CNA’s Florida branch where he helped develop distribution strategies and partnered with agents and brokers in Florida.

Prior to joining CNA, he served as commercial lines territory underwriting manager for Harleysville Insurance Co. in Atlanta, Ga.

The Plexus Groupe LLC, a national insurance brokerage and risk management consulting firm based in Deer Park, Ill., hired Matthew McKenna as chief financial officer.

McKenna was most recently CFO at Chicago-based OmniVere LLC, a large integrated discovery management and consulting firm. Previously, he was senior director, Corporate Restructuring at Alvarez & Marsal LLC, a global consulting firm.

Plexus also has offices in Chicago (Loop), Dallas and Oklahoma City.

The American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS), a national insurance advisory organization for property/casualty insurers, named Melanie Howard as director of Corporate Communications.

Howard comes to AAIS with 20 years of communications and marketing experience in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Most recently, she was with Great West/Empower Retirement where she developed business-to-business and business to consumer strategic campaigns, rebranding initiatives, and launched new digital platforms.

Previously Howard served as vice president of Marketing for Charter Financial, as vice president of Communications for JDRF/Denver, and as CEO of Howard Communications in Los Angeles and Denver.

She replaces Joseph Harrington, who is no longer with AAIS.

AAIS supplies its 700-member insurance companies with standardized policy forms and rating information for 34 lines of business, as well as research and data development services.

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