Safeco Announces New Sale Regions, Field Leadership

Seattle-based Safeco has announced it has expanded its sales organization from five to nine regions, and has named executives to lead two of the new territories.

“Independent insurance agents have consistently told us they want more personal contact,” said Spencer Donkin, senior vice president of sales and distribution. “These new regions will make that possible — and our new region executives will bring a strategic and ‘hands-on’ approach to agency relations and distribution management.”

The new Safeco sales regions are:
— Northwest: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington;
— California: California;
— West: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming;
— Upper Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin;
— Midwest: Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska;
— South Central: Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas;
— Northeast: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont;
— Atlantic: District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia; and
— Southeast: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina.

Chris Allen will oversee the Midwest region. Allen comes to Safeco from Progressive Insurance, where he was director of independent agency distribution. In that role, he headed a sales organization responsible for working with thousands of independent agencies in the Midwest and Northeast.

Safeco also has tapped Claudette Kenmir to oversee the West region. Kenmir has been with the company for 19 years in several leadership roles including heading up Safeco’s National Sales Center in Liberty Lake, Wash.

The company plans to name leaders for the other regions in the coming weeks.

Source: Safeco