Executives.

Reliance Chairman Steps Down

Saul Steinberg has stepped down as chairman of troubled Reliance Group Holdings Inc., NewYork, and its Philadelphia subsidiary, Reliance Insurance Co.

George Baker, interim chief executive officer of Reliance Insurance, also has resigned, said JoelWeiden, a spokes man for Reliance.

The company, which is in runoff, is now being operated by its senior executive team, led by Howard Steinberg, who is no relation to the ex-chairman, the spokesman said.

Saul Steinberg stepped down two years ago as CEO amid mounting losses at Reliance. In April, the Penn sylvania Department of Insurance appointed David S. Brietling to over see the company.

Brietling "is there on site monitoring the daily operations of Reliance," said Rosanne Placey, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania department. "He's keeping everyone up to date."

Talks between Reliance and the insurance department have continued for several months regarding the runoff and the restructuring, Weiden said.

He added that the company is discussing plans to continue servicing existing policies but is not writing new policies. Under those conditions, Weiden said, Reliance believes its reserves are adequate to pay the claims that it receives.

Anthem Taps Chief Medical Officer

Anthem Inc., Indianapolis, has named Samuel R. Nussbaum to be executive vice president and chief medical officer.

Nussbaum joins Anthem from BJC Health System of St. Louis, where he served as executive vice president for medical affairs and system integration. He was chairman of Health Partners of the Midwest, a health plan that is jointly owned by Washington University School of Medicine and BJC.

Nussbaum's experience includes serving as a professor at Harvard Medical School and as a member of the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital. He is a professor of clinical medicine at Washington University School of Medicine and serves as an adjunct professor at the Olin School of Business, Washington University.

Gill & Roeser Hires Swanke as VP

Gill & Roeser Inc. has hired Albert H. Swanke Jr. as senior vice president.

Swanke will provide advisory and consulting services to insurance companies, insurance intermediaries, banks and other related financial institutions. He will focus on capital formation, strategy development, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and mutual company strategies. Swanke also will be active in Gill & Roeser's new Banks-In-Insurance consulting group.

Swanke has more than 30 years of management and executive experience in the insurance and venture capital industries. For the past four years, he was an independent financial adviser, focusing on private equity and investment banking. Before that, he was managing director and a member of the executive committee of the Firemark Group in Morristown, N.J.

He was founder and principal of Insurance Venture Partners of Darien, Conn., and served in executive and management positions with Cigna (INA),American Express and American International Group.

WellPoint Names Group President

WellPoint, Thousand Oaks, Calif., has promoted David Helwig to group president of the large-group division. Helwig also will become a member of WellPoint's office of the chairman. He succeeds Ron Williams, who has left the company to pursue other interests.

Helwig previously served as senior vice president for WellPoint's large-group division in the western region. A 13-year veteran of WellPoint and its predecessor Blue Cross of California, Helwig has served in key operating and financial capacities and as chief actuary.

Before joining the company, he was chief actuary at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Virginia. Prior to that, he worked for Integron Life Insurance Co. and Mutual of Omaha.

Chubb Taps Hicks as CFO 

Weston M. Hicks, who was hired by Chubb Corp. in March as financial assistant to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dean O'Hare, has been named chief financial officer of the property/casualty insurer.

Hicks, a former equity analyst, succeeds David B. Kelso, who resigned to pursue another career opportunity, Chubb said.

Hicks' initial title at Chubb was senior vice president and financial assistant to the chairman.

Before joining Chubb, Hicks was a managing director at J.P. Morgan, where he undertook the firm's equity research cover age of property/casualty companies. In each of the past seven years, Institutional Investor magazine named Hicks the top equity analyst on the nonlife side for its All-America Research Team.

Before going to J.P. Morgan in February 1999, Hicks spent eight years as a senior research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and five years as a fixed-income securities analyst at Moody's Investors Service.