Eisinger joins Parker, Smith & Feek as CFO:Parker, Smith & Feekpromoted Todd Eisinger as its new CFO. Eisingerbrings 30 years of experience holding various positions with VWSCorp., Mid Mountain Contractors, Sea-Pac Sales and Palmer G. Lewis.He has previously served as a board member of the ConstructionFinancial Management Assn.

GPP promotes McIntire and Warner: Glatfelter PublicPractice, a division of Glatfelter Insurance Group, appointedMichael McIntire sales executive for the NewEngland territory. McIntire brings more than 15 years ofsales/marketing experience and possesses intimate knowledge of theNew England market. Prior to joining GPP, McIntire served asregional sales/marketing manager at a regional New Englandwholesaler. In addition, GPP has named CherylWarner as territorial sales manager for the Western statesregion. With more than 20 years of sales/marketing experience,Warner will oversee the region’s sales and productionresponsibilities from the GPP Stockton, Calif., office. Prior tojoining GPP, Warner served as a sales executive for a regionalbrokerage firm in North Carolina.

California Insurance Guarantee Assn.names secretary treasurer: Stephen V.Festa, senior vice president and chief claims officer atEmployers, has been namedsecretary and treasurer on the Board of Governors of the CaliforniaInsurance Guarantee Assn.(CIGA). Festa joined the CIGA board in2009 as an insurer member.

R-T Specialty names president: R-T Specialty named RajanShah president. Shah has more than 17 years of experiencein the insurance industry, including spending the past 10 years inthe wholesale sector.

Lockton opens office in Beijing: The ChinaInsurance Regulatory Commision approved Lockton to open a new branch officein Beijing. The new office will operate under Alex Jiang, whowill be joined by a number of associates this January. Jiangjoined Lockton in March 2010, and has overseen Lockton’s WhollyOwned Foreign Enterprise license application process for theBeijing office. Previously assistant general manager, head offinancial risks practice and corporate business practice inNorthern China for HSBC Insurance Brokers, Jiang will report toGerry Callaghan who is CEO and president for Greater China. TheBeijing branch office will operate as a full-service broker,offering a wide range of specialist insurance and reinsuranceservices to clients as well as risk management expertise andknowledge to Chinese-based companies. In particular it will focuson developing professional liability, property and casualty andinternational insurance in and around Beijing.

Austin Mutual merges with CooperativeMutual: AustinMutual Insurance Co., a regional property casualty insurer, hasmerged with Cooperative MutualInsurance Co., Omaha, Neb. The merger will result inprojected combined assets under management of $178 million,with direct written premiums of $254 million. The merger hasmet both policyholder and regulatory approval. Under the terms ofthe merger, policyholders of Cooperative Mutual are nowpolicyholders of Austin Mutual, and the combined assets of bothcompanies back their policies. All operations of CooperativeMutual have been transferred to Austin Mutual. Austin willretain Cooperative's management, national distribution system,workforce and the Omaha-based agribusiness office. All futurepolicies and contracts will carry the name of Austin Mutual. Aspart of the merger, Jeffrey Kusch will continue tolead Austin Mutual as chairman, president and CEO. The company willcontinue to offer the lines of business offered through CooperativeMutual to customers in active agribusiness territories.

Hylant Group merges with Swartzel Affiliated:Hylant Group andSwartzel Affiliated Insurance Agency have mergedto provide its clients with more personalized service and greaterexpertise. The combined organizations will form one of the largestfull service insurance firms in the Greater Cincinnatiarea. The merger between the two organizations will provideSwartzel's clients with additional tools and resources Hylantoffers through its industry specialty practice groups. Hylant's clients will benefit from the proven expertise andexperience of Swartzel and its strong reputation in the greaterCincinnati and Dayton regions.