Farmers to Reshuffle Its Top Executives, Expand Business
Farmers Group, which plans to expand aggressively in the 1990s, especially in life insurance, said Tuesday that it will reorganize management and redeploy a number of top executives, effective Nov. 1.
Chairman and Chief Executive Leo E. Denlea Jr. said 61-year-old Farmers will consolidate its property-casualty insurance business, beef up its life insurance companies and launch a major program to develop information systems that move beyond efficiency and cost-cutting to become new money makers for the Los Angeles-based firm.
The consolidated property-casualty unit will be headed by William H. Braddock, current vice president for marketing. Braddock will carry the newly created title of executive vice president, and Denlea said he will nominate the 32-year Farmers veteran for a directorship.
The new setup will become effective Nov. 1, when Robert R. McClintick, is scheduled to retire as senior vice president for property-casualty operations. McClintick joined Farmers 50 years ago in Kansas City, Mo.
Martin D. Feinstein, currently an assistant vice president, was named officer in charge of marketing, pending his election next month as a vice president, succeeding Braddock.
Braddock’s promotion to the new post appeared to add a missing link in the chain of eventual corporate succession to Denlea, though the chairman still has nearly a decade left before retirement. More immediately, Braddock’s promotion will free Denlea to concentrate on building up the company’s smaller life insurance business and developing modern data-processing and information systems appropriate to the 21st Century.
“We have had consistent, strong growth, which has made us the third-largest personal insurance group in the nation,” Denlea said, “yet today we do business in only 27 states. . . . Our plans call for aggressive marketing and expansion into targeted markets.”
Denlea named H J Browning, who has spent 37 years with Farmers, to another new position--senior vice president and chief information officer. Browning, currently vice president for Midwest field operations, will coordinate development of the company’s information technology and long-range business-processing plans.
“In the 1990s, Farmers intends to use information technology as a revenue-generator, in addition to a cost-reducer,” Denlea said. “To ensure that Farmers remains a leader in this field, we are creating major changes in the way our business is conducted and managed.”
Darell F. Norris, who has 30 years with Farmers and is senior vice president for life insurance operations, was made an assistant to Denlea to work on special projects. Thomas H. Welch was named as assistant to Denlea for life insurance.
Browning’s move to information services also triggered a number of new regional assignments: Browning will be succeeded in the Midwest by James A. MacKinnon, vice president of Western field operations. MacKinnon in turn will be replaced by Michael P. Bigley, vice president for claims, and Bigley will be succeeded by Donald D. Raney, currently manager of Farmers’ regional office in Overland Park, Kan.
