Harleysville Insurance Adds to Technology Leadership Team to Support Ongoing Efforts to Enhance Ease of Doing Business for Agents.

HARLEYSVILLE, Pa. -- Harleysville Insurance has announced two additional information technology leadership appointments as part of its ongoing efforts to make it as easy as possible for agents to do business with the company.

Jonathan L. Griggs has been named vice president of insurance management systems, and Brahm Sharma has been named assistant vice president of resource management. In his position, Griggs oversees Harleysville's policy administration systems, while Sharma is responsible for the maintenance of and enhancements to the company's mainframe systems.

"The more effective and efficient our systems, the easier it is for our agency partners to do business with us," noted Akhil Tripathi, senior vice president and chief information officer, in announcing the appointments. "The expertise that Jon and Brahm bring to Harleysville in the areas of policy administration and mainframe systems certainly will strengthen our ability to support our agents' efforts to write profitable business with us."

Griggs joined Harleysville from BearingPoint in Chicago, where he served as a senior manager. Prior to that, he was vice president and chief technology officer of AQS, Inc. in Hartland Wis. Griggs also has held IT leadership positions with CastleBay Consulting, IBM, Fiserv and Commtron Corporation. He has more than 18 years of financial and insurance industry experience. He earned a bachelor's degree from Excelsior College, Albany, N.Y., and has studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management.

Sharma brings more than 15 years of information technology experience--primarily in the insurance and financial services fields--to his new role. Before joining Harleysville, he served as senior manager at BearingPoint in New York, N.Y. Prior to that, he was vice president and IT leader at Marsh & McLennan in Princeton, N.J. In addition, Sharma has led various IT projects at New York Life Insurance, GMAC Insurance, Continental Insurance (now CNA) and Credit Suisse First Boston. Sharma has earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Delhi College of Engineering in Delhi, India.

Harleysville Insurance is a leading regional provider of insurance products and services for small and mid-sized businesses, as well as for individuals, and ranks among the top 60 U.S. property/casualty insurance groups based on net written premiums. Harleysville Mutual Insurance Company owns 54 percent of Harleysville Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HGIC), a publicly traded holding company for nine regional property/casualty insurance companies collectively rated A- (Excellent) by A.M. Best Company. Harleysville Group is a member of the NASDAQ Global Select Market, which represents the top third of all NASDAQ-listed companies and has the highest initial listing standards of any exchange in the world based on financial and liquidity requirements. Harleysville Insurance--which distributes its products exclusively through independent insurance agencies and reflects that commitment to its agency force by being a Trusted Choice([R])company partner--currently operates in 32 eastern and midwestern states. Further information can be found on the company's Web site at www.harleysvillegroup.com.