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June 24, 2013

Oregon Insurance Commissioner Lou Savage is leaving the division to work on legal reform in emerging democracies overseas.

Laura Cali, the division’s chief actuary and manager of product regulation, will replace Savage effective July 15.

Savage was initially appointed as a temporary replacement to head the insurance division, then agreed to serve in the permanent position a year ago.

The division hired Cali in mid-2011 as a casualty actuary specializing in workers’ compensation and medical malpractice. Then a consulting actuary for Towers Watson in San Francisco, she started her career at Liberty Mutual’s home office in Boston, building rating models for workers’ compensation and general liability lines of business.

CMIC, a doctor-owned medical professional liability insurer serving New England, named Kevin M. Bresnahan as director of claims.

Bresnahan brings 20 years of experience to his role. He comes to CMIC from Discover RE/Travelers, a property casualty insurer, where he served in several claims management roles, most recently as claims manager of the national accounts unbundled claim unit.

Prior to joining Discover RE/Travelers, Bresnahan was a partner in the law firm of Russo, LaRose and Bresnahan where he served as staff counsel attorney at Hanover Insurance responsible for all aspects of insurance defense litigation including trials, alternate dispute resolution, discovery and coverage opinions.

Conn.-based The Hartford named John Kinney chief claims officer and president of Heritage Holdings.

In this role, Kinney will lead The Hartford’s property/casualty and group benefits claims operations and its more than 5,000 employees, reporting to Doug Elliot, president of commercial markets at The Hartford.

Kinney, who joined The Hartford in 2003, most recently led the company’s property/casualty field claims organization, responsible for workers’ compensation, automobile, property and general liability claims handling and claims customer support. His previous role at Heritage Holdings focused on complex claims, including asbestos, silica, environmental damage and other latent injury long tail claims.

Prior to joining The Hartford, Kinney held various legal positions in The Travelers Cos.’ special liability group.

David Morse & Associates (DMA) named Lee Wright as assistant vice president of its specialty claims division, which focuses on high exposure, complex liability losses and is composed entirely of claims specialists with insurance defense litigation experience; most have law degrees. The division handles individual assignments and claims administration from 20 locations in 15 states, and specializes in construction defect, professional, products and employer liability. The division also handles mandatory settlement conferences and mediations nationwide for a flat rate.

Wright most recently held the position of assistant vice president, senior claims consultant with XL in Los Angeles and construction defect litigation manager for Harleysville Insurance in Nashville.

His prior experience includes handling litigated transportation claims for St. Paul Insurance and general liability, products, auto and employer’s liability litigated claims for Travelers.

OneBeacon Technology Insurance (OBTI), a member of OneBeacon Insurance Group, appointed Dana Lenahan as assistant vice president, technology claims, reporting to OneBeacon Vice President of Claims Theresa Gooley.

In this role, Lenahan is accountable for all claims related to the technology book of business. Lenahan succeeds Judi Lamble, who was recently promoted into an expanded role within OneBeacon’s claims organization.

Lenahan comes to OneBeacon with 12 years of corporate litigation experience gained with law firms in Minneapolis and Indianapolis, most recently with Nilan Johnson Lewis, where she specialized in complex litigation for clients in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

Selective Insurance Group named George Neale as senior vice president, chief claims officer by Selective Insurance Group.

Neale joined Selective in April 2013. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president, chief claims officer for commercial insurance for Liberty Mutual.

Selective Insurance also promoted Michael Zondory to vice president, property and catastrophe claims.

Zondory joined Selective in 2011 as assistant vice president, large loss property claims.

Before that, he served as property general adjuster for the Hartford Insurance Company.

Zondory holds the Property Claims Law Associate designation.

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