The MEMIC Group named a longtime communications executive at the workers compensation specialty insurer as its new president and CEO.

Michael Bourque will replace John Leonard as MEMIC’s leader after Leonard retires in September. Bourque’s selection by MEMIC’s board of directors was announced May 11 at a gathering of the company’s nearly 400 employees.

Bourque has worked for MEMIC for nearly 22 years, most recently under Leonard in the role of senior vice president, External Affairs. He was chosen during a search that included candidates from both inside and outside of MEMIC.

“I have enjoyed the great benefit of having incredible mentors here at MEMIC,” Bourque said in prepared reamrks. “It’s an important tradition here, learning from each other. I am the beneficiary of learning from John Leonard and many others. This is representative of the strength of the team we have developed over the years. I think it is so important to continue that tradition.”

MEMIC Board Chairman David Labbe said that Bourque was a good choice as president and CEO, due to “his experience, knowledge and loyalty to this company.”

Bourque joined MEMIC in 1995 as a communications specialist, working up the ranks as corporate communications manager, director and vice president before he was appointed in 2011 to his current role as senior vice president.

Leonard essentially helped build MEMIC. He was hired in February 1993 to lead what was, at the time, a new company. MEMIC credits him with building what was a startup with a line-of credit loan operating in Main to an organization with more than $1.2 billion in assets with licenses around the country and eight offices from Maine to Florida.

Bourque had begun his professional career as a newspaper reporter at daily newspapers in Alaska and Maine. Before joining MEMIC, he was senior editor at the American Association of Community Colleges in Washington, D.C.

Source: MEMIC