United Fire Group
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Kelly Walsh has over two decades of insurance industry experience and will lead all underwriting functions at UFG.
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The executive will remain with the company as vice president of field operations.
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Julie Stephenson will succeed long-time COO Michael Wilkins, who retired on September 30 from the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based company.
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Wilkins’ retirement comes at a transitional time for UFG, which named Kevin Leidwinger as president and CEO in July.
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Kevin Leidwinger will succeed current president Randy Ramlo, who announced his retirement plans in February.
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Insurers could face pressure if interest rate and recession fears intersect with worsening loss cost trends.
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The industry veteran spent most of his career at Transamerica, most recently as head of enterprise transformation.
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CEO Ramlo will remain in his role until his successor is named and will take on a consulting role during the transition process.
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Excluding the effects of cats and reserves during the period, UFG’s underlying loss ratio declined 24.5 percentage points.
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The Iowa-based company posted on Tuesday an earnings per share of $1.69, improving on the prior year and beating a $0.41 estimate from analysts.
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The better underwriting print came as the company continues to cuts its commercial auto exposure and despite being hit with $40mn in cat losses.
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The Cedar Rapids-based company says Hurricane Ida was a full-retention reinsurance loss, at least its second in two years after it took an $88mn gross loss from last year’s Midwest derecho.
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United Fire Group names Helbing and Patten as interim co-CFOs as it starts search for permanent finance chief.
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The Inside P&C Select Index outperformed the S&P 500 (5.7% to 2.9%) in August, despite Hurricane Ida making landfall.
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The carrier seeks to reduce commercial auto category below 20% of its overall book.
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Inside P&C’s research team examines some of the areas that will be closely watched during the results season.
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Former JLT executive Micah Woolstenhulme is leading UFG’s reinsurance expansion.
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UFG reported an adjusted operating loss of $1.37 per share in Q3 compared with $0.40 per diluted share for the same period last year.