Executives.

21st Century Insurance Names Marlow to be President-CEO

Bruce Marlow, Allstate Corp.'s president of independent agency markets, has been named chief executive officer of 21st Century Insurance Group, Woodland Hills, Calif.

Marlow, also named president, succeeds William L. Mellick, who resigned in January. Marlow has also been named vice chairman of 21st Century. Mellick said he plans to pursue other interests.

At Allstate, Marlow also was a senior vice president. Before that, he spent 17 years at Progressive Corp. as the company's chief operating officer.

Allstate hired Marlow last year to lead its independent agency initiative when it bought CNA Financial Corp.'s personal-lines business. He headed a new $1.7 billion company, called CNA Personal Insurance, which was to sell CNA personal-lines products through 3,800 independent agents in 43 states.

Last fall, Allstate said it would focus on independent agents as it launched a $600 million restructuring plan. That plan includes moving 6,500 of its more than 15,000 captive agents to one exclusive-agency, independent-contractor program.

21st Century meanwhile, made its mark as a direct marketer. The company sells personal automobile insurance in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, and homeowners insurance in California.

21st Century also has expanded its Internet presence. Just before announcing Marlow's appointment, the company said it would expand its Internet sales by offering products through InsWeb.

Queensway Appoints CFO 

Queensway Financial Holdings Ltd., Toronto, has appointed Glenn W. Gibson as chief financial officer, succeeding Cathy Wilson. Gibson brings 17 years of financial management experience to his new job.

Two Hired at CGU Insurance

Geraldine Prusko has joined CGU Insurance, Boston, as vice president of field operations. Her responsibilities include oversight of operations in CGU's Mid-Atlantic, New Jersey, Indiana/Ohio Valley and California regions.

Prusko joins CGU with more than 29 years of experience in the claims and legal areas. She most recently was senior vice president and chief claims officer for Cigna Property & Casualty Co.

Tom Becker has been appointed vice president and branch manager of the Seattle office. Becker joins CGU from Safeco/American States Insurance Co., where he was most recently casualty director, overseeing six regions. He has more than 18 years of experience in the insurance industry, particularly in field and home office underwriting, marketing and business unit management.

Church Mutual Promotes Whitburn to President-COO

Church Mutual Insurance Co., Merrill, Wis., has promoted Gerald Whitburn to president and chief operating officer. Dieter Nickel, who has been president since 1971, will continue as chief executive officer and chairman.

Whitburn joined Church Mutual in September 1996 as vice president of administration, becoming executive vice president in January 1998. He will be responsible for the company's day-to-day operations.

Anthem Unit Chief Resigns; Matthews Takes Over as COO

David Kikumoto said he would resign April 1 as chief executive officer of the Colorado and Nevada operations of Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield in Denver.

Caroline "Caz" Matthews, who was named chief operating officer in January, will succeed Kikumoto in heading Anthem's operations in those two states. Matthews has been with Anthem since 1988. Most recently, she led the effort to improve and integrate the Denver-based unit's operations into Anthem's. Anthem acquired the financially troubled Colorado Blues plan in November.

Insurance Institute Taps Liddy As Its Chairman of the Board

Edward M. Liddy, chairman, president and chief executive officer of All-state Corp., has been elected chairman of the board of the Insurance Information Institute. He succeeds Ret. Gen. Robert T. Herres, U.S. Air Force, chairman and CEO of USAA, San Antonio.

Before being named chairman of Allstate in January 1999, Liddy became president in 1995 and chief operating officer in 1994. He joined Allstate from Sears in 1991, where he had been chief financial officer.

Oxford Names President-COO

Oxford Health Plans Inc., Trumbull, Conn., named Charles M. Schneider president and chief operating officer. Before joining Oxford, he was president and founder of Concordant Group LLC, a management-consulting firm for managed-care companies and other health-care providers.

Schneider will oversee the day to-day operations of the company, including health-care delivery, sales, information systems, human resources, claims and services. Dr. Norman Payson, chief executive officer and chairman, will remain responsible for strategic matters and relationships and will oversee financial, legal and public policy activities at Oxford (See "Full Circle," page 113).

Schneider succeeds William M. Sullivan, who resigned from the company to pursue other interests.

Fortis Health Hires Senior VP

Kimberly Harm has joined Fortis Health, Milwaukee, as senior vice president of underwriting.

Harm comes to Fortis Health from Mutual of Omaha, where she was executive vice president of customer service operations. In her 20 years with Mutual of Omaha, Harm was responsible for a variety of operating functions, including life and health underwriting, claims, call-center operations and policyowner services.

MIIX Names President-CEO

MIIX Group Inc., Lawrenceville, N.J., has named Ken Koreyva to be president and chief executive officer.

Koreyva, who had been executive vice president and chief financial officer, succeeds Daniel Goldberg, who has taken a leave of absence.

Koreyva was named acting CEO following Goldberg's leave. While serving as acting CEO, Koreyva realigned the senior management team to enhance customer service.

Thomas Redman has replaced Koreyva as CFO. Redman previously was CFO of the company's insurance operations.

Towers Perrin Reinsurance Hires Two Vice Presidents

Towers Perrin Reinsurance has hired Ed Santos as a senior vice president based in Philadelphia and Peter Brown as a vice president based in Stamford, Conn.

Santos comes to New York-based Towers Perrin Reinsurance after 10 years at Arthur Gallagher Intermediaries in New York. Brown had previously been with Carvill America and Sellon Associates.

National Grange Hires CFO

Jeanne Eddy has joined National Grange Mutual Insurance Co., Keene, N.H., as senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Eddy has more than 25 years of experience in the industry. Most recently president of the manufacturing strategic business unit with Zurich Insurance Group, she also held other senior level positions with Zurich, including president of the custom middle markets strategic business unit and president of national accounts.

Atlantic Mutual Selects Gorke To Oversee New Surety Unit

Atlantic Mutual Cos., Madison, NJ., has named Thomas P. Gorke senior vice president of Atlantic Mutual Surety, a new division. He will be responsible for developing a portfolio of contract and commercial surety bond business, as well as planning and managing the division's longterm strategy.

Gorke brings more than 25 years of experience in the surety business, most recently as executive vice president for Seaboard Surety, a subsidiary of St. Paul Cos. Previously, Gorke held several positions at Seaboard, a company he had joined in 1970 as an underwriter trainee.

Greater Beneficial Union Taps National Marketing Manager

Patrick F. Graun has been appointed national marketing manager for Great Beneficial Union of Pittsburgh. Graun has served on the board for the Wisconsin General Agents and Managers Association and the Madison Society of Financial Service Professionals.

XL Unit Selects President

P. Richard Hackenburg has been named president of XL Market Services, a division of XL Global Services Hamilton, Bermuda. He is chief executive officer of XL Insurance Co. of NewYork.

Hackenburg will be responsible for coordinating cross-selling programs and processes, company branding and positioning, uses of Web technology to deliver added value to XL's product and service offerings, distribution, initiatives and product process development.

Leimkuhler Succeeds Delaney

Urban E. Leimkuhler Jr. has succeeded Richard T. Delaney as president of Am-Re Consultants Inc., a unit of Munich-American Global Services Inc. Delaney, who joined the company in 1994 as president, has retired. Leimkuhler previously held executive positions with USF&G, Swiss Re and Allmerica Financial.

Marsh Names Nordic Chairman

Hans-Erik Andersson has been appointed to the dual posts of chairman of the Nordic region for both Marsh & McLennan Cos. and Marsh Europe, MMC's risk and insurance services operating company in Europe.

In his Marsh Europe capacity, Andersson oversees businesses in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. As chairman of MMC in the Nordic region, Andersson will work with the leaders of the company's operating subsidiaries, Marsh Europe and Mercer Consulting Group.

Previously, Andersson was chairman of Skandia International and executive vice president of Nordic Property-Casualty He also served as executive director with the U.K. reinsurer Mercantile & General.

Sunshine State Selects CFO

Sunshine State Insurance Co., Ponta Vedra Beach, Fla., has named Richard L. Ervin to the posts of vice president and chief financial officer. Ervin has more than 22 years of experience in the Florida market. Most recently, he was chief financial officer of American Surety & Casualty Co., Jacksonville, Fla.

ING Re Names President-CEO

Jeff Skriletz has been named chief executive officer and president of ING Reinsurance, one of several leadership changes that the company said reflect its strong focus on international expansion.

Previously president of ING Institutional Markets, Skriletz began his 18-year career at ING as an actuarial student and spent several years in the Netherlands as an actuary of the international division of Nationale Nederlanden

Other personnel changes include:

* Tom Conroy has been named president of ING Reinsurance International and will head the company's expansion into Bermuda, Japan and Ireland.

* Arnold Dicke, senior vice president and chief actuary, will add oversight of the business operations and information technology to his responsibilities.

* Dr. Pete Bell has been promoted to senior vice president, risk selection and medical director, heading risk selection and the Denver-based company's mortality research center.

Humana Taps President-CEO

Humana Inc., Louisville, Ky., said it has named Michael B. McCallister president and chief executive officer and a member of the company's board.

McCallister, who has been with Humana for 26 years, has been a member of Humana's four-person office of the chairman since August, working closely with Chairman and Interim CEO David A. Jones on the company's turnaround plan.

NYMagic Appoints Davis COO

NYMagic Inc. has appointed Lawrence S. Davis executive vice president and chief operating officer. Davis, 52, was senior vice president of Aon Reinsurance Inc. in Philadelphia.

Davis has more than 30 years of experience in multiline underwriting, international business and reinsurance buying and brokering.

Tempest Re Appoints Daniel To Lead Expansion Strategy

Tempest Reinsurance Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Bermuda-based Ace Ltd., has appointed Wayne A. Daniel to lead Tempest Re's multiline expansion into the European and Asian reinsurance markets. Daniel will initially be responsible for developing a detailed business plan, recruiting a core team of reinsurance professionals and determining the optimal structure and focus of the London-based operation. Daniel has held senior executive positions at M&G Re, Liberty Re and, most recently, ERC Frankona in London.

National Insurance Programs Names Wehner President-COO

National Insurance Programs has appointed John H. Wehner as president and chief operating officer. Wehner will have operating responsibilities for National Insurance Programs, NIP public entity solutions and the property/casualty operations of all NIP's affiliates. He joined NIP in April 1999 as president of NIP public entity solutions.

Hays Resigns From Top Post At Blue Cross & Blue Shield

Patrick G. Hays has resigned as president and chief executive officer of the Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association.

Scott Serota, the association's executive vice president and chief operating officer, will serve as interim president and CEO.

Hays took the reins in February 1995. Since then, the member plans experienced significant enrollment gains and now insure about one in four Americans in every state.

Those gains were achieved through the work of the plans, but Hays and the association helped that to occur by making the association a "smoother, faster-moving more-efficient organization," said spokesman Bill Pierce. "We had a flat budget, but we became meaner and leaner."

Hays oversaw the plans' continuing migration from indemnity to managed care, the consolidation in the number of plans from more than 70 to the current 49, and plan conversions from nonprofit to for-profit.

Under Hays, the association continued development of the BlueCard, which allows a member of any plan to access care at any other Blues plan in any state. Another innovation, BlueCard Worldwide, allows access in other countries. Both programs "took off" under his leadership, Pierce said. Hays initiated the launch of the association's internal and external Web sites, and he pushed expansion of Blues plans internationally.

In 1998, Blues plans collectively earned a $1.4 billion profit, but sustained $1.1 billion in underwriting losses, a problem Hays said last spring the organization would address.

Former Regulator Joins Quotesmith.com

Quotesmith.com Inc. has named Jay Angoff, a former Missouri insurance commissioner, as vice president of strategic planning.

Angoff, 48, was appointed director of the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration's private health insurance group in January 1999.

As director, he oversaw federal enforcement of recently enacted legislation governing the portability of health insurance coverage. Between 1993 and 1998, he served as the insurance commissioner of Missouri, where he spearheaded workers' compensation and health insurance reforms, according to Quotesmith. He also evaluated and approved several major mergers and divestitures involving insurers and health maintenance organizations.

As commissioner, he also helped set up the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' committee on insurance claims of Holocaust survivors.

Quotesmith.com, Darien, Ill., provides online price quotes for insurance policies.