CNA appointed a new head of its Small Business arm. Ascot picked an executive to lead its operations in Bermuda. Grange Insurance appointed a new board member.

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CNA appointed Steve Marohn to the position of Senior Vice President, Small Business.

Marohn will be responsible for profitability, growth and strategic direction of CNA’s Small Business team, reporting to Kevin Leidwinger, President & Chief Operating Officer, Commercial Insurance.

“We are confident that his deep agent and broker relationships, industry knowledge, technical expertise and proven growth strategies will continue to bring innovative solutions to our clients as well as further CNA’s Small Business footprint,” Leidwinger said in prepared remarks.

Marohn joined CNA in 2013, serving in various leadership roles across CNA’s western US region. Prior to his career at CNA, Marohn was an Executive Vice President at AIG.

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Ascot made Ian Thompson its new Chief Executive Officer, Bermuda.

Thompson will assume leadership of Ascot’s multi-faceted business on the island, which includes specialty insurance, reinsurance and alternative capital capabilities underwritten from the Group’s ‘A’ rated Bermudian platform. The appointment is subject to pending regulatory and immigration approval. In his new role, he will report to Group President Jonathan Zaffino.

Thompson joined Ascot in 2017 as Head of Casualty & Specialty, before promotion to Executive Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer, Casualty & Specialty in 2020. Before that he spent almost a decade at Hiscox Re as Head of Casualty & Specialty.

Previously, Thompson also worked at Catlin, heading the Healthcare and Professional Lines practice in London.

The promotion comes with the departure of John Berger who will retire at the beginning of March 2021 after three years helping to establish a market leading presence in Bermuda. Berger will continue to advise and consult at Ascot.

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Ohio’s Grange Insurance appointed Jim Benson to the Grange Mutual Holding Company Board of Directors.

Benson most recently served as executive vice president and CFO at Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), a global cloud services and cybersecurity leader, from 2012 until his retirement in 2020. Before joining Akamai, he spent 20 years at Hewlett Packard Company (HP) in various senior finance leadership positions.

Benson’s career involved leading successful large-scale transformation initiatives, optimizing financial and operational management processes in diverse, complex, global business environments, and executing mergers and acquisitions across domestic and global markets.

He is filling the seat vacated by Douglas Buth, who retired after 13 years of service.

As a director, Benson will serve on the Audit and Investment Committees.

Sources: CNA, Ascot and Grange Insurance