USI Insurance Services (USI) announced its acquisition of Gardner & Associates Enterprises. The acquisition further strengthens USI's presence as a leading middle market insurance brokerage and consulting firm in the Southeast region, and complements the company's wide range of commercial property-casualty, employee benefits, personal risk services and retirement consulting offerings.

The Charles L. Crane Agency (Crane) celebrated its 130th anniversary in September with a celebration at Ballpark Village near Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Baseball Cardinals. Downtown St. Louis has been "home" to Crane since it was founded in 1885 by Charles Linton Crane, the son of a steamboat captain. For the past 130 years, the company has remained a strong supporter of the city of St Louis. With more than 250 employees and brokers, the Crane Agency recently ranked in the Top 50 of the largest, privately-held insurance agencies in the U.S., and remains the oldest independent agency west of the Mississippi River. Crane represents all major property and casualty insurance companies, is licensed in all 50 states, and has more than 50,000 clients locally, regionally and nationally.

Robert Bowers, National Claims Leader, Westfield Insurance, will speak at the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance's 2015 Litigation Management Institute. The conference will be hosted at Columbia Law School in New York City from Oct. 22-25, where Bowers will cover the topic of Resolution Strategies. Having 28 years of insurance industry expertise, Bowers has held a variety of operational, leadership, executive and change management roles throughout his career at Westfield. In his role as National Claims Leader, Bowers and his team are responsible for the strategic and operational results of the claims department. Most recently, he held the role of Claims Strategy Leader and was responsible for the development and deployment of Westfield's multi-year claims transformation initiatives, focused on organizational, customer, analytical and data advancements.