Great American Names Presidents of Custom and E&S Divisions

Great American Insurance Group has named Kirk Bull to the role of divisional president of its American custom division. He has served as divisional senior vice president of Great American custom's casualty operations since 2004. Before that, he was a senior casualty underwriter for the Los Angeles division of Cigna excess and surplus.

In addition, Mark Lonneman was promoted to divisional president of Great American's excess and surplus division. He joined what was then called Great American Agricultural Excess and Surplus Insurance Co. in 1980 as a casualty underwriter.

The positions were created following a recent reorganization in which casualty became the American custom division and excess and surplus was also made a separate division, a company spokesman said.

The Great American Insurance Pool, led by Great American Insurance Co., writes business in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada, according to BestLink, which provides online access to A.M. Best's Global Insurance & Banking Database.

The pool provides commercial insurance products through some 12,000 independent agents and brokers. Its products include inland and ocean marine, agricultural, executive and professional liability, fidelity and surety, commercial automobile, collateral protection, umbrella, excess and surplus, and excess property lines of business. Each segment is managed with significant autonomy, allowing managers to focus on their products, A.M. Best said.

Members of Great American Insurance Group are subsidiaries of American Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: AFG), shares of which were trading on the afternoon of May 28 at $27.89, down 0.83% from the previous close.

Most the subsidiaries of Great American have current Best's Financial Strength Ratings of A (Excellent).

(By Caroline Saucer, editor, BestWeek: [email protected])