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

GPP promotes McIntire and Warner: Glatfelter Public Practice, a division of Glatfelter Insurance Group, appointed Michael McIntire sales executive for the New England territory. McIntire brings more than 15 years of sales/marketing experience and possesses intimate knowledge of the New England market. Prior to joining GPP, McIntire served as regional sales/marketing manager at a regional New England wholesaler. In addition, GPP has named Cheryl Warner as territorial sales manager for the Western states region. With more than 20 years of sales/marketing experience, Warner will oversee the region’s sales and production responsibilities from the GPP Stockton, Calif., office. Prior to joining GPP, Warner served as a sales executive for a regional brokerage firm in North Carolina.

California Insurance Guarantee Assn. names secretary treasurer: Stephen V. Festa, senior vice president and chief claims officer at Employers, has been named secretary and treasurer on the Board of Governors of the California Insurance Guarantee Assn.(CIGA). Festa joined the CIGA board in 2009 as an insurer member.

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

Lockton opens office in Beijing: The China Insurance Regulatory Commision approved Lockton to open a new branch office in Beijing.  The new office will operate under Alex Jiang, who will be joined by a number of associates this January. Jiang joined Lockton in March 2010, and has overseen Lockton’s Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise license application process for the Beijing office. Previously assistant general manager, head of financial risks practice and corporate business practice in Northern China for HSBC Insurance Brokers, Jiang will report to Gerry Callaghan who is CEO and president for Greater China. The Beijing branch office will operate as a full-service broker, offering a wide range of specialist insurance and reinsurance services to clients as well as risk management expertise and knowledge to Chinese-based companies. In particular it will focus on developing professional liability, property and casualty and international insurance in and around Beijing.

Austin Mutual merges with Cooperative Mutual: Austin Mutual Insurance Co., a regional property casualty insurer, has merged with Cooperative Mutual Insurance Co., Omaha, Neb.  The merger will result in projected combined assets under management of $178 million, with direct written premiums of $254 million.  The merger has met both policyholder and regulatory approval. Under the terms of the merger, policyholders of Cooperative Mutual are now policyholders of Austin Mutual, and the combined assets of both companies back their policies.  All operations of Cooperative Mutual have been transferred to Austin Mutual.  Austin will retain Cooperative's management, national distribution system, workforce and the Omaha-based agribusiness office.  All future policies and contracts will carry the name of Austin Mutual. As part of the merger, Jeffrey Kusch will continue to lead Austin Mutual as chairman, president and CEO. The company will continue to offer the lines of business offered through Cooperative Mutual to customers in active agribusiness territories.

Hylant Group merges with Swartzel Affiliated: Hylant Group and Swartzel Affiliated Insurance Agency have merged to provide its clients with more personalized service and greater expertise. The combined organizations will form one of the largest full service insurance firms in the Greater Cincinnati area. The merger between the two organizations will provide Swartzel's clients with additional tools and resources Hylant offers through its industry specialty practice groups.  Hylant's clients will benefit from the proven expertise and experience of Swartzel and its strong reputation in the greater Cincinnati and Dayton regions.