Main Street America Promotes Chief Investment Officer Tom Frazier to SVP; Appoints 3 New Company Officers

Business Wire

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Main Street America Group has announced the promotion of Tom Frazier, the company’s chief investment officer, to senior vice president. Frazier has been a Main Street America vice president and its chief investment officer since 2011.

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The Main Street America Group has promoted chief investment officer Tom Frazier to senior vice president. (Photo: Business Wire)

Additionally, Main Street America has appointed three of its functional unit directors as new company officers:

Jim Kelly, director, commercial lines underwriting;
Joe Schmucker, director, personal lines product development and underwriting; and
James Vettel, director, information technology operations

All three will be an assistant secretary of the company.

“Tom, Jim, Joe and James all play key roles on Main Street America’s management team,” said Tom Van Berkel, Main Street America’s chairman and chief executive officer. “They exemplify the strong leadership qualities that drive our organization’s sustained success in an ever-challenging property/casualty marketplace and helped us achieve several financial milestones in 2016.”

Main Street America’s fiscal 2016 performance included top-line growth of 10.2 percent and the most net written premium in the company’s 93-year history: $1.07 billion. The company also produced strong investment returns of $101 million and strengthened its balance sheet, increasing surplus by $27 million to $1.1 billion and growing its total assets by 5.6 percent to $2.6 billion.

Following are more details about Frazier, Kelly, Schmucker and Vettel:

Tom Frazier
Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer

Tom Frazier manages Main Street America’s $2.2 billion investment portfolio. His responsibilities include determining appropriate asset allocations, selecting the best outside managers to meet the company’s portfolio objectives and managing their performance. Additionally, Frazier oversees Main Street America’s banking and custody relationships and assists in capital management activities.

Frazier, who reports to Main Street America executive vice president and chief financial officer Ed Kuhl, is based at the company’s Keene, N.H., office. He joined Main Street America in 1999 as a senior internal auditor. Frazier was appointed manager, corporate finance, in 2001 and promoted to director, corporate finance and investments, in 2005. He became a company officer in 2007 when he was appointed as assistant treasurer. Frazier was promoted to assistant vice president in 2010 and vice president, chief investment officer in 2011.

Prior to joining Main Street America, Frazier served as a Certified Public Accountant at Robert M. Mucha, CPA, PC, Keene. His broad financial services experience also includes roles as a financial analyst at Kingsbury Corporation, Keene, N.H., and an audit senior at Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP, Boston.

Frazier earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Assumption College, Worcester, Mass. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and has attained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance (AIAF) designations. Frazier was inducted into Main Street America’s Circle of Excellence in 2004.

Jim Kelly
Assistant Secretary
Director, Commercial Lines Underwriting

Jim Kelly has responsibility for Main Street America’s home office and regional commercial lines underwriting operations. This includes ensuring all of the company’s underwriters comply with Main Street America’s standards and regulatory requirements in each state where it writes commercial lines, while partnering with the company’s field marketing operation to write quality business and drive profitable commercial growth via its distribution force of 3,000 independent insurance agents.

Kelly, who reports to commercial lines vice president Dan Gaynor, is based at Main Street America’s corporate headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla. He joined Main Street America in 2002 as a customer service representative. In 2003, he moved into commercial lines product as an underwriting assistant. Kelly’s other commercial lines roles at the company have included commercial lines underwriter, senior commercial lines underwriter and manager, commercial lines product. He was promoted into his current role in 2013.

Kelly earned his bachelor’s degree in business from Saint Anselm College, Manchester, N.H. He holds the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation. Kelly was inducted into Main Street America’s Circle of Excellence in 2012.

Joe Schmucker
Assistant Secretary
Director, Personal Lines Product Development and Underwriting

Joe Schmucker has responsibility for Main Street America’s personal auto, homeowners and personal umbrella products, as well as its home office and regional personal lines underwriting functions. He played a key role in the development and successful implementation of the company’s new Main Street Protection Auto private passenger auto insurance program, which is now available in eight states.

Schmucker, who reports to personal lines vice president Debbie Murphy, is based at the company’s corporate headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla. He has nearly 30 years of property/casualty industry experience. Schmucker joined Main Street America in 2013 in his current personal lines director role. Prior to joining the company, Schmucker held operational underwriting, home office and product management positions at several P&C carriers, including AIG, Allstate, USAA and USF&G (Zurich North America).

Schmucker earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing at Fordham University, Bronx, N.Y.

James Vettel
Assistant Secretary
Director, Information Technology Operations

James Vettel has overall responsibility for Main Street America’s enterprise information technology operations including, security, controls and compliance, IT support services, IT operations and software release management. He also is responsible for operational and IT vendor relationships for telecommunications, server/infrastructure hardware, PC hardware, software licensing, outsourced infrastructure and IT services.

Vettel, who reports to Main Street America chief information officer Amy Frederick, is based at the company’s Maple Grove, Minn., office. He joined Austin Mutual Insurance Company in 2009 (prior to its affiliation with The Main Street America Group) as assistant vice president–IT. He was promoted to vice president-IT in 2011 and held that role until January 2014 when Austin Mutual employees transitioned to Main Street as part of the affiliation. At that point, Vettel became director, IT vendor management until he assumed his current role in October 2014.

Prior to joining Austin Mutual, Vettel held IT management positions at Hill Rom, IBM Global Services and Arthur Andersen Business Consulting.

Vettel earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and management at North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D. He holds several professional certifications including CIRM (Certificate in Risk Management) and CPIM (Certified in Production and Inventory Management). Additionally, Vettel is an IT Committee member at the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

About The Main Street America Group

With roots dating back to 1923, The Main Street America Group is a mutual insurance holding company which writes business through its nine property/casualty insurance carriers: NGM Insurance Company, Old Dominion Insurance Company, Austin Mutual Insurance Company, Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance Company, Main Street America Assurance Company, Great Lakes Casualty Insurance Company, MSA Insurance Company, Main Street America Protection Insurance Company and Spring Valley Mutual Insurance Company. Based in Jacksonville, Fla., Main Street America offers a wide range of commercial and personal insurance, as well as fidelity and surety bond products, to individuals, families and businesses throughout the United States.

With nearly $1.1 billion in premium written exclusively by 3,000 independent insurance agents, the 94-year-old company underwrites over 500,000 property/casualty policies in 37 states, as well as 50,000 bonds in 47 states and the District of Columbia. A.M. Best Company rates The Main Street America Group with an "A" (Excellent) Financial Strength Rating, with a Stable Outlook, as well as an “a+” Issuer Credit Rating. The company has $1.1 billion in surplus (capital) and $2.6 billion in total assets.

Main Street America is the founding company partner of Trusted Choice^®, the global branding program of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. Main Street America is also a founding company partner of the TrustedChoice.com agent referral platform and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Research Center. For more information about Main Street America, please visit our newsroom at news.msagroup.com or connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MainStreetAmerica.